Black Lightning
by Jumpy Portia
Summary: Dr Milo Smith is an Archeologist from our world. One day luck is in her favour. Or is it? Her biggest discovery yet is about to be stollen from her by the Pewter Museum. Her best friend and work colleague (Dr Hank Williams, a Geologist) is hiding a deep dark secret that could effect both of their futures. What will happen when they are kidnapped by Pewter Museum and taken hostage?
1. Chapter 1

**Black Lightning Chapter 1**

Discovery of the Dark – Electric type Pokémon.

**Author's notes.**

This was an idea that I had. At first it was the idea of "what would happen if a fossil Pokémon did not include the rock type?" Then I thought about maybe making an electric fossil Pokémon that was outside of this rock type category. After considering this I noticed that there were no Electric-Dark type Pokémon.

There would be no passable way to create such a type of Pokémon without some kind of backstory to go with it so that it made sense for it to be outside of the 'lore' of "all fossil Pokémon are rock type" whilst also having a new dark-electric / electric-dark type. The first few chapters are a little short. Please bare with me as they will get longer. This is my first Fanfic. Constructive criticism welcome.

**I do not own Pokemon or any of its canon characters, I am just a long time fan with a bit of imagination. Stator, Elector and Zaptor are my own creation along with many of the OCs. I will update images of my creations with attached links at a later date.**

Themes: Mild Romance, Mild Adult themes, Mild Gore, Fakemon, Pokemon FanFic, Original Characters, Some Language

Sources:

Raptors

/article/62065/10-fearsome-facts-about-utahraptor

Prelude.

This is without a doubt the biggest screw-over in my entire career! I'm going to milk these people dry from the inside out for what they have done to me as compensation! If I weren't this angry, this would be kind of cool. Actually this situation is giving me awesome opportunities; but I'm still angry, and you know what they say about a woman scorned!

Chapter 1

I am in an undisclosed location in the sweltering dry heat of a desert that shall remain unnamed. (Don't want any new discoveries to be claimed by any vultures right out from under my nose) My coworker and myself have just made an exiting discovery. A successful geologist and my long time friend, Doctor Hank Williams had found rocks that indicated that there had been a massive prehistoric mudslide that he had carbon dated back to about one hundred and ninety-seven million years ago. The geological carboniferous period. Or from an archeological point of view, the middle Jurassic era. Naturally as an archeologist I wanted to check it out. All kinds of things were happening in that time frame, who knows what we could find.

Doctor Hank Williams had been my friend since high school. We clicked in history class and ended up following similar lines of life as best friends. Hank had a very dry sense of humour and a kind of blunt sarcasm to him. He had bright blue eyes and black hair with one dimple that only showed on his left cheek when he really laughed. Hank kept his hair in a short kind of buzz cut, almost army style. Today in the heat of the desert he is wearing heavy duty hiking boots, a wide rimmed rabbit felt hat, khaki green shorts and a beige button up shirt that he didn't seem to have remembered to button up at all during our trip here. Not that I am complaining, he is a nice piece of eye candy, but it sometimes makes it that little bit more difficult to focus on the work at hand with that flashing into view every other moment of the day. Digging and moving rocks around all day really toned him up. Hank often joked that we were only still friends because he had decided to become a geologist rather than an archeologist.

It's no secret that archeologists don't get along. It's difficult to find an archeologist that will admit they don't hate someone from their field. We hate everyone in our field with the same title as us. We see every other archeologist as a rival and we all check each other's work looking for mistakes so we can rediscover their first discoveries. It is a cut throat profession to say the least but it is the perfect job for someone who is anti-social like me. I have rivals yes, but I hardly ever have the displeasure of seeing them. I have friend too, just one friend. Hank. Hank is my only friend. Other than Hank I had no one else. No family. At least not any legal family. My parents had been drug addicts and I had become a ward of the state the second that I had been born. I spent my life being handed around from one place to the next. No one wanted to know me growing up, except for Hank. To everyone else I was just an angry delinquent who would amount to nothing.

Hank and I had combed over the whole area where the mudslide had been present. Between us we found several flora and fauna fossils on the surface and needed a sponsor to loan us a team to uncover everything. (Let's face it, if you spend you life living in the middle of nowhere you are not going to earn much money to cover the expenses of living. Not unless you strike a gold vein with some fist sized nuggets or something. I'm an Archeologist, NOT a prospector)

Luckily for us we didn't need to wait long for a sponsor. Hank knew a guy, Lee. Lee was as shady as a healthy tree in a dead wasteland. You were thankful to have him but had to wonder why he was the only one in the metaphorical wasteland with all the prosperity and good health. He was useful but I didn't trust him. He reminded me of a snake I once found in a fossil pit I once dug. The damned thing wouldn't leave my pit alive. I had to take a shovel to it to kill it so I could continue my work. Lee had a team of ten volunteers, more money than sense and one huge ugly and angry grey dog he had called Pooch. Pooch followed Lee everywhere, even to the bathroom.

Lee always dressed like he was fresh out of a private school. Blazer, black leather shoes, freshly ironed shirts and trousers, some kind of trinket on his jacket pocket and hair that was groomed to sit combed back with not a hair out of place. Even in this arid heat he remained presentable. (Right down to the shine in his brass buttons and freshly polished leather shoes.) Lee screamed vanity with a hint of white supremacy. (He had ivory white skin with blonde hair and stunning emerald green eyes. Put him in a suave uniform with a swastika and you have a prime example of the youth of Hitler.)

Back to the exciting discovery... In the mudslide site we had found hundreds of fossilised leaves, grasses and insects; with the bonus of three adult raptor skeletons. They all came with obvious proof on all of them that they had feathers. From immediate observation two of the three were complete. They looked to be about the size of Utahraptor and Achillobator giganticus, the two largest raptors to date. How ever the plumage looked like it was different on this breed. I would need a closer look in a lab to confirm this though. If my observations here were correct we could be looking at a raptor that was around sixteen to nineteen feet in length. Much of this length looked like it was tail, shaped to help control direction in-high speed like a cheetah.

In addition to the bones were seven nests. None of the eggs had hatched and only one or two of all the eggs in each of the nests were actually damaged. Each nest held between five to eight eggs. Ten eggs were damaged from the mudslide, but thirty-four of the eggs were whole with no cracks or damage. The mud must have been extremely soft and very water heavy, with the eggs having very thick shells for them to not break. It must have also been a relatively slow mudslide, as the eggs were not moved far from their respective nests as the mud moved over them. Or perhaps this was a valley that filled up with mud, so the eggs and three adults had nowhere to be swept away to. It would have been a horrible way to die, buried in thick mud and drowned in sludge.

As excited as I was, I was also very weary. Lee and his volunteers would not tell me which museum they worked for. I had no idea who would be handling and publishing the details of the discovery that Hank and I had made. I had asked Hank about this. He had told me that Lee and the others hadn't told him much either. (In a very squirrelly suspicious kind of way.) Something did not feel right and Hank and Lee seemed to have a history.


	2. Chapter 2

Black Lightning Chapter 2

It's the last night at our location. All the fossils had been dug out of the ground, prepped for travel and were being loaded onto the trucks by the volunteers. I still didn't know where we were going in the morning. All I knew was that we were going back to the museum, which ever one what was, wherever that was.

It had been a typical day. Blazing hot, extra dry, harsh sun and no end to all of the mirages. The only shade available was from your own hat or from the light gazebo made from shade cloth and old poles. Luckily there had been no wind or sandstorms today. Most of the men spent the day shirtless, kneeling on their shirts and blankets so they didn't bake themselves on the rocks while they extracted the last of the fossils. The plaster mix protecting the fossils had dried in record time.

Later that night, Hank and I sat at a campfire eating a bowl of beans each, under the stars. Hank had rolled a couple of large rocks opposite each other at the campfire. We were far enough out of earshot to everyone else for me to relax a little. 'Milo?' Hank called me suddenly out of our mealtime silence, he had already finished eating. 'Yeah?' I asked as I looked across the fire at him. Hank was running his fingers through the sand for a moment and looking at the small stones he found in the light of the fire. I could see his bare chest through the opening of his unbuttoned shirt while he poked in the sand. I put another spoonful of beans in my mouth. 'Should we get married?' he asked me. He had a straight face when he asked. I choked on my mouthful at that question. It had taken me completely by surprise.

It took me a moment of coughing and choking to get my composition again. 'What? Joke or serious?' I asked as I looked at him and wiped the corner of my mouth with my jacket sleeve. There were no table manners here, or any real social etiquette either. There was only blunt, dry truth and honesty. 'Serious' Hank announced with a stone expression on his face. The usually playful gleam in his eyes was absent. He was being totally serious.

'Why?' I asked. I had to know where his mind had gone for him to suddenly ask that. 'Social, legal and research advantages. Not to mention that we hardly come across anyone we like in our field or would consider a life long companion. Actually we hardly ever meet anyone at all! We have known each other long enough to skip the need to date. We have also lived together in the past on various projects in our careers. I for one find you easy to live with and think that if that is the old-fashioned recipe for finding "the one" and living happily ever after then my "one" is you.' He calmly explained.

I tilted my head to the side as I looked at him and processed this. Hank and I were by no means romantic; we were both about the honest nitty-gritty in life. Hank had a good point. I trusted Hank and usually he made good choices in life. (Except for Lee) I had no reason to turn him down. I also had very little chance of meeting anyone else in life. I didn't visit any kind of towns or cities and I hardly went anywhere that had more than maybe three people at a time in any one building. (Most of the places that I went to for supplies were one street, one shop, one pub kind of towns with a population of no more than one hundred.) That isn't exactly a good recipe for meeting someone that you would be comfortable with spending the rest of your life with. I also knew that Hank had a very similar lifestyle to myself. If we weren't out in the field (alone in the middle of nowhere) we were holed up in a laboratory examining our latest findings and recording our observations. Hank was a practical and sound choice. Somewhere in the deepest part of my psyche my mind was blown by his question while I calmly and logically examined his proposal. It was so logical and simple, why had we not thought of it earlier?

'You do make a valid point.' I said slowly while I watched him. 'Is that a yes?' Hank asked with the faintest hint of a smirk at his lips. His eyes were full of hope and seemed to be wider than normal, like he was begging me to not reject him. 'Until I find a reason to call off the engagement,' I said calmly as I took another spoonful of beans into my mouth. Hank smirked triumphantly and stretched while he leant back on his rock as I continued to eat. The playful glint was back in his eyes again, and all was well with the world. We sat in silence well after we had both finished eating. Hank amused himself by sorting the stones he found in the sand between his fingers. I sat my empty bowl on the sand next to my feet and watched Hank in silence. Hank muttered quietly to himself while he looked at all of the stones and sorted them into little lines around the edges of his feet.

I was lost in my own thoughts. I never thought anyone would even be interested in me in the slightest. I wasn't ugly but I was no beach babe either. I was maybe somewhere between six and seven on the hot scale of the attractive eye-catching meter of women. I usually always wore the same clothes. No real shockers there. I didn't go clothes shopping very often and I wasn't usually near a Laundromat to wash the two changes of clothes that I owned. I was like a stinky dusty hobo most of the time. (So was Hank, but the guy was ripped and could pass as a centrefold model in a Men's health magazine any day of the week. Put him in a fundraiser calendar for the fire brigade and you wouldn't know that he wasn't one of them. He always had smudges of grit and dust on his skin when we spent long amounts of time in the field.)

Everything about me seemed to be average. My height, my weight, brown eyes, brown hair, tanned skin. No interesting birthmarks, no crooked nose or strangely shaped ears. I was crazy generic in my opinion. The only thing that I had going for me was my brains and personality. Perhaps not my personality. I offended almost every politically correct douchebag that I came across. If I really thought about it, what Hank possibly really admired about me would have been my loyalty to our friendship. I would sooner cut off my own legs than betray my only friend and one trusted companion.

My thoughts were distracted by a slight shift and crunch of sand and rocks coming from behind me. Someone was walking over to us while we were at the fire. I saw Hank glance up and then look back down at the stones that he had lined up around his feet again, seeming to ignore the person who was approaching like they didn't matter at all. Little did he know that was a big mistake.

'Doctor Milo Smith,' Greeted Lee's voice from behind me. 'Lee… Pooch' I greeted in a dull tone wondering what the over stuffy peacock wanted this time. The last time that he had greeted me in such a manner he had asked me to make him breakfast in bed like I was some kind of school excursion maid. My presence seemed only to be a convenience to Lee when he wanted something, and usually that something was as stupid as him not being able to stir his own hot coffee in the morning. I am an Archeologist not his nanny! His lack of respect towards me as a professional in my field was really rubbing me the wrong way.

Lee sat on the rock next to me and draped an arm over my shoulders. Pooch sat next to Lee on the ground on the other side of him. 'Why is Doctor Milo all by herself over here next to this fire? She looks so forlorn and lonely.' Lee asked me in a sleazy purr. 'Hank is here,' I said to him bluntly as I gestured across to Hank over the fire. Before Lee could respond to that Hank spoke up. 'Remove your arm from around my fiancée before I snap it off at the shoulder for you.' Hank warned in a dry tone. I wasn't the only high school delinquent here, Hank had gotten into his share of bloody punch ups too. I think I could still make out the scar above his right eye brow in the light of the campfire.

'Fiancée?' Lee asked as he looked at Hank. Lee sounded like he didn't believe a word that either of us were saying. 'Yes fiancée!' I snapped as I hit him hard in the ribs with my elbow. The force of my elbow knocked Lee backwards off the rock with a cough. 'Crunch!' Lee gasped as he fell backwards off the rock. Pooch growled and leapt at me around Lee's legs as he fell. I wasn't fast enough to get out of the way. Pooch's teeth sunk into my knee and with an audible crunch he shattered my kneecap. I screamed in pain and shock as I and fell off the rock and into the dirt from the momentum of Pooch's attack. I could feel the splinters of bone in my leg around the sharp fangs while it was crushed by the growling Pooch. Pooch kept a tight hold on my knee while he snarled at me. He looked at me with the most unnatural looking red and yellow eyes.

With a rush of adrenaline and desperation to make the dog let go I jabbed him hard in the eyes with my fingers. 'Let her go!' Hank yelled. I heard a scuff in the dirt while I was busy trying to dig Pooch's eyeballs out of their sockets with my fingernails. I heard a yelp and a cough as Pooch let go of my knee and was kicked hard enough to tumble over me and away in the dust. Hank had kicked Pooch with enough force to send him tumbling off of me, and knock the wind out of him. I was grateful but in a world of agony. The damage had been done and I was now bleeding into the hot night sand with a completely splintered kneecap.

Through the agony I heard a click. The click made me freeze in place a moment. I saw Hank visibly tense over me when he heard it to. 'Kick Pooch again and I put a bullet in your head Doctor Williams.' I heard Lee say through gritted teeth as he slowly stood up with a gun aimed at Hank. Lee was half obscured from my sight by the rock we had been sitting on. I could see his free hand was rubbing his side where I had elbowed him. I could only stay down and groan while holding my broken bleeding knee. I didn't hear if Hank gave a response but he stood over me and slowly put his hands up.

'Now, here is what is going to happen. You are going to come quietly with me or I'm going to shoot both of you.' Lee said in his usual proud and matter of fact voice. I saw out of the corner of my eye that the volunteers were approaching with guns up aimed at Hank and myself. Lee was actually smiling while he held us a gun point. That jerk was actually enjoying himself. Hank spat at the dirt at Lee's feet. Lee and Hank had locked eyes in a silent kind of fight that I had no idea of what it was about. From Hank's expression I knew it was from some kind of past bad blood between the two of them.

'Go where?' I asked hoping that I wasn't going to be one of those women who died right after getting engaged. Irony at its finest. I groaned and rocked from side to side in pain on the ground. I could feel the sweat dripping down the back of my neck and over my brow. I felt like I was going to vomit. The hot sand was starting to burn my back. 'We are taking you to the trucks. You! Take Doctor Williams in the first load of trucks. You over there take Doctor Smith into the back of the car. Make sure she doesn't spill blood all over my back seat!' Lee ordered different volunteers.

Above me I saw someone come up behind Hank and put a sack over his head as someone else injected him with some kind of sedative or tranquilliser. Hank gave a groan and wobbled before falling. Luckily for me the volunteers pulled him away from me so he didn't fall on me. Once he was out they started binding his wrists and ankles.

I was next. First I couldn't see anything, then I couldn't feel or think anything. I blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Black Lightning Chapter 3

I woke up in a strange bed in a strange room. My right leg in plaster and elevated by a stack of pillows. I was hooked up to a drip and another set of medical equipment that wouldn't shut up with their constant beeping. The lights in the room were bright. As I tried to get my eyes to adjust I heard a familiar voice. 'You are finally awake!' Hank said almost in an excited tone.

My head was buzzing but I looked across to where I had heard Hank's voice. He was sitting next to the bed in a straight jacket. He had a thick belt buckle over his lap to hold him down to the chair that he was sitting on, while he sat next to my bed. He looked very much unharmed and over whatever side effects of whatever drugs had been used on him. He was bright eyed and fully aware of everything.

I would have laughed at the sight of him in a straight jacket but something caught my eye. Stacked around the edges of the bright white room were blue and glass cylinders. Inside of these cylinders were things that looked like eggs. They were deep yellow with a black and white stripe around them like a thick ribbon. There was an impurity in the line that looked like a heartbeat pulse line between the black and white bands. The cylinders containing these egg like objects had blinking green lights on them and a small screen on them. The screens looked like they contained vital signs for the egg looking things that were in them.

'Hank where are we?' I asked him in a dry voice. I needed a drink of water. My mouth and throat felt dry. 'In the Pokémon world' Hank answered in a plain but serious tone. 'What?' I asked looking at him again with a raised brow. 'We are in the Pokémon world' Hank repeated before smirking a little at my obvious confusion. 'They stuck you in the right jacket then' I said to him bluntly. Hank started to chuckle. 'Seriously Milo, just wait until you see Chansey' Hank said dryly as he settled and looked at me with mirth filled eyes. His face was tense while he looked at me like he was worried about something.

As if on cue a knock came at the door. Before either of us could answer a bubbly bright eyed woman in a nurse's outfit entered the room. She had pink dyed hair in a short pixie hairstyle. Her face was too bright and happy for my mood right now. 'Oh young miss is awake!' she announced cheerfully in a strangely thick New Yorkian accent. 'Yes…' I responded dryly at her loud joy before my eyes went wide.

A short fat pink creature followed her. It had a pouch on its belly with an egg. It had pink skin with a light layer of fuzzy hair over it. Rimming around the sides of its head were round flaps of skin that almost resembled a monk's hairstyle. It's limbs were comically stubby and small for the size of its body. I wondered how it could possibly be good at what it did, or even productive. It was grinning wide as it came around the bed and started to check the medical machines. 'Sey, sey, sey, Chansey Chan chan!' The Chansey sang to itself. It was a Chansey. We really were in the Pokémon world. This revelation didn't just confuse me, I was excited about this but also suddenly very angry. I had been dragged here against my will. This was a huge emotional bomb to drop on someone. Not to self: Monkey stomp Lee the next chance that I get. The dude has it coming to him and I want to be the one to dish it to him.

I looked at Hank with wide eyes. 'I told you so' He chimed smugly right before sighing heavily. 'Where are we?' I asked the nurse while the Chansey checked my knee. 'We are at the Pewter city museum, in the private Pokemon Centre for all of its employees,' The nurse cheerfully announced.

'How many healings before her knee is fixed?' Hank asked. 'Oh I'd say about a weeks worth of daily healings from Chansey. She will heal again in time. Her whole kneecap is shattered like lots of bits of broken glass. Once the kneecap mends itself she will need a lot of physiotherapy to get her strength back again. She might have a limp for the rest of her life but she fared better than Lee's Mightyena. Pooch will be forever blind in one eye. If the infection persists thought he will lose that eye,' The nurse answered in a surprisingly grim and worried tone before smiling brightly again. Either she slipped up on giving out too much information or there was no doctor-patient confidentiality in this world.

'Pooch deserved it…' I grumbled under my breath. It made sense now why Pooch was so weird and ugly looking. He was like a giant Chinese crested dog gone wrong crossed with a strange looking staghound. He was nothing like the dogs in my world. 'What was that?' The nurse asked in a suddenly angry tone. Her eyes flashed with rage as she shot me a glare. 'Nothing! What is with all the eggs in here? I assume they are eggs,' I asked quickly changing the subject. I had panicked at seeing her expression to my lack of care about the well being of her other patients.

'The eggs are from your expedition. So far all are healthy and appear to be ready to hatch soon. I don't know how soon. We don't know the growth rates of these eggs' She chimed in a cheery voice. She sounded like a bimbo but she must have had some kind of a functioning brain in there to have become a nurse. 'But they were all fossils!' Hank protested with a furrowed brow. 'They were changed when they were brought through the portal. The eggs were so well preserved that they still held life as fossils. All the eggs required was a light dusting. The other fossils are currently being revived. We have three full adult skeletons. I must say I am quite impressed with your skills,' Announced Lee with a smug tone in his voice as he let himself into the room.

Lee wore a white lab coat with a black turtleneck under it. His blonde hair was combed back from his bright green eyes. His face was a mix of emotions that seemed to range between anger and disappointment but holding just a hint of awe at my level of dedication with my work and my extreme luck with fossils.

'Two' I corrected him as I tried to sit up in bed. I wasn't going to take his presence in the room lying down. 'Chance!' Chansey snapped at me as she tried to hold me down with one stubby arm and hand me a remote for the bed with the other arm. On the end of her stubby little arms were teeny tiny fingers, fingers too small for animators to bother drawing in in the anime no doubt. I took the remote and pressed the button to raise the head of the bed until I was sitting up. The movement sending pain up my leg and into my hips. I gritted my teeth and did my best to not let it show. 'Two?' Lee asked me with a quirked brow and a cold voice. 'There were only two full raptor skeletons,' I said through the pain as the bed slowly sat me up. 'We have pieced together three of them, you must not have counted all the bones properly.' Lee corrected. 'Oh silly me for not being able to count every single bone when we transported the bones still mostly in the rock. One of them was missing a toe on one foot' I said in a dry tone. 'We found the toe in the excess rock.' Lee announced. 'Lucky you,' I sarcastically remarked.

Lee narrowed his eyes at me and cleared his throat. 'I am keeping two of them and gifting the third one to the chairman of the museum. Because I am not a savage and there was an agreement of payment you will both get to keep one of whatever hatches from the eggs in this room. That is if they hatch like they are supposed to. Each of the volunteers on the expedition will also receive one of whatever hatches. The rest I will keep for my own personal collection to breed and privately sell to the highest of bidders. Both of you will be kept here to ensure that as many of the incubating eggs hatch as possible. Once that task is done the museum will sign you both on as full time employees to continue to find fossils for us in the field. If you refuse, I will take you both back to the other world and sue you both for fraud. Questions?' Lee asked at the end of his arrogant monologue. 'No…' I said in a bunt voice as my voice dropped an octave in rage. 'Yes!' Hank answered when I did. 'Can we have a night to sleep on it?' Hank asked. He was still strapped up tight in his straight jacket. Lee laughed loudly and in a cruel manner before leaving the room.


	4. Chapter 4

Black Lightning Chapter 4

After Lee left the room the nurse looked between us. 'You know… working here isn't that bad. We get paid well and the work insurance is better than anywhere else.' The nurse said quietly to us. 'You do know that we were kidnapped and brought here against our will right?' I asked her as I rose a brow at her. The Nurse nodded. 'Yes! Me too! But don't tell Lee that I told you,' She said even quieter.

I sighed again and shook my head. The ache in my leg was starting to drive me nuts. 'I guess at least we didn't get killed right after our engagement. That just would have been sad on a number of levels,' I said to no one in particular. The nurse gave an excited squeal before taking my hand and looking at it. She then gave an angry huff at seeing my hand was still naked. 'Where is your ring? What kind of dunce proposed to a smart lady like you with no ring?' The nurse asked, clearly offended on my behalf. She huffed and pouted. I started to laugh. 'This dunce! The dunce who knows that she doesn't like romance and happened to decide to pop the question when there were literally no shops for miles around! THIS DUNCE is just happy and lucky that she didn't say no' Hank chimed in with a laugh. 'That's not funny!' The nurse snapped, still pouting. Hank and I just laughed more at her reaction.

'It's fine!' I said with a wave of my hand. 'No! NO! N! O!' The nurse said with a stamp of her foot and a huff. 'I must fix this until your dunce fiancee fixes it!' She announced with a huff before storming out of the room. Chansey stayed behind, seeming to expect the nurse to return shortly. Hank looked at me with a smirk. I chuckled at his expression and then looked at the door again waiting for the nurse to burst back in. 'Milo?' Hank asked me. 'Hmm?' I hummed back to him as I looked back to him. 'Should we tell her that we never dated and haven't even had our first kiss yet?' Hank asked with a cheeky grin. 'So we can watch her lose her shit?' I asked as I felt my brow quirk. 'Yep!' Hank said with a wise smile, making a popping sound on the "P". The idea was certainly tempting as it was amusing.

'Belinda he didn't get her a ring!' Came the nurse's voice as a tall blue haired woman in smart executive looking clothing was pushed into the room. 'Nurse Mel!' Belinda groaned as the nurse pushed her more into the room to stand at the side of my bed on the opposite side that Hank was sitting on. 'You have plenty of rings! Let her borrow one until he can buy her one! You are wearing like twenty rings right now!' Nurse Mel pleaded with a pout as she looked at Belinda.

Belinda sighed and rolled her big violet eyes behind her smart square glasses before she looked down at me. She then gave me an ironic smile. 'I pity you for having her as a nurse. I'm Belinda. Pewter museum's PA to the Chairman.' She said introducing herself as she took my left hand and inspected my ring finger. She then took one of her rings off and put it on my ring finger.

I inspected the ring on my finger and then laughed. It was a mood ring on a simple silver band and it fit on my finger perfectly. She had a good eye. 'I love it!' I said giggling with my dry throat. My engagement ring was a mood ring, very fitting for the occasion. 'That is Doctor Milo Smith, the head Archeologist and team leader of our last findings. I am Doctor Hank Williams, the Geologist that discovered the site of our successful and very lucky find. Milo that is not going to be our wedding ring!' Hank said by way of introduction before looking at me with narrowed eyes.

'Oh? Why not? I am giving it to her as an engagement present!' Belinda snapped at him, but she was smirking. I had a feeling I was going to get along brilliantly with Belinda. That woman had an edge on her that just seemed to work with me. 'I am going to get one of the gems that I found at the site that I proposed and I'm going to cut and polish it for her wedding ring. I'm also going to give it to her on the day of our first kiss… at the altar, so she better watch out for that.' Hank said in a firm tone before giving me a cheeky wink and a smirk.

'What do you mean first kiss at the altar?' Mel asked as her pitch slowly rose with swift fury. She crossed her arms, highly unimpressed. Belinda was watching us curiously, I could see the beginning of an amused smirk at her thin lips. 'Well Mel, when Hank proposed we had never dated or anything. We have just been friends for years and we seem to work together so…' I trailed off as I defended Hank from Mel's cute fury. 'But that isn't romantic!' Mel whined. 'No but it is smart and efficient. Congratulations both of you. Milo needs her rest and some probably some more painkillers. Come on Nurse Mel, the patient needs to heal,' Belinda said with a chuckle as she started to escort Mel out of the room. Mel quickly measured out some kind of painkiller and injected it into my drip before letting Belinda drag her out of the room. Chansey quickly followed after the pair of them.

'I like that PA.' Hank hummed after they left the room. I gave a sigh as I felt the painkillers start to take effect. I chuckled and looked at Hank. 'Hush or I will get jealous Mr No Libido and No Romance,' I teased with a smirk. 'Oh I'm only straight for you honey.' Hank said with a grin as he leant back in his chair. 'Straight for me hey? So how many bromances do you have on the side then?' I asked him teasingly. Hank only smiled, his dimple showing as he shook, trying to hold in a laugh. 'None! I am Mr No Libido and No Romance remember?' He chuckled before his brow started to furrow. 'You should sleep. You need to heal that knee.' He said quietly to me. That was a fast mood swing. Hank only had those when he was feeling anxious. I couldn't blame him for that.

I nodded and started to lower the bed back to lay down again. I yawned, feeling a little better with the painkillers taking effect. I closed my eyes as I spoke. 'Goodnight future husband,' I only now realised how tired I was. I had lots of healing to do. 'Goodnight future wife…' Hank whispered to me softly. I had never heard him speak so tenderly before. He must have actually really liked me more than he let on. With that thought I let the darkness flood my mind as I fell asleep. It was strange. Even though Hank was strapped to a seat in a straight jacket, I felt safe with him watching over me.


	5. Chapter 5

Black Lightning Chapter 5

Two weeks had passed. Hank and I had lived in that tiny, cramped room together. My knee had healed enough that Hank was helping me to learn to walk again. I still needed to lean heavily on him as being in bed for so long had weakened me. We were mostly confined to the room with the occasional visit to the private staff garden at the back of the Pewter museum. We were not denied any of our personal needs, nor were we treated like prisoners. (Even though we were prisoners, THANKS LEE!) Food and bathroom were provided in the same fashion that a five star resort would offer them, fresh, fancy and platinum room service. If we were not being held here against our will and I wasn't now a cripple, this would have been a great holiday experience. Surprisingly enough we were also being paid a salary and Lee had made us sign contracts and insurance papers to be employees of the Pewter Museum. Lee had even given us permission to take time off work to organise the wedding, buy a house and go on a lengthy honeymoon. I think this was mostly because I still couldn't walk and he wanted to give the physiotherapist time to strengthen me properly ready for full time field work again so we could make him more money. I heard that the discovery Hank and I had made had earned him a huge bonus on top of his own generous salary from the chairman. I was yet to meet this Chairman of the museum.

In the private staff garden a few regular wild Pokemon would show up. These consisted of caterpie, weedle, pineco, and the occasional pidgey visit. We would usually eat our lunch outside in the noon sun and share our meal with the wild bug Pokemon. Hank and I saw making friends with the wild Pokemon a good long term investment. We didn't know when we were going to need their help with something.

The actual layout of the garden was much like that of a Japanses zen tea garden. There was a bamboo water feature surrounded by lush greenery and well placed moss covered rocks. A single large maple tree leaned over the small bamboo water fountain. There was a western type table for six and several mossy stone benches along the windy path that was obscured by neatly trimmed hedges and various miniature pine trees. There were plenty of places to sit, relax, eat and smoke.

After lunch Hank and I headed back inside to rest and read. Now that I was in the Pokemon world I had to get caught up on the research of the other archeologists in this world. Especially since I would be competing to gain knowledge ahead of them as well as possibly still trying to out-research the archeologists of my own birth world. I also needed to catch up on the latest Pokemon biological discoveries for each species and type. Then there was all the history books that I needed to read. Archeologists didn't just find fossils, they uncovered ancient sites from lost civilisations. I was going to need to know the general basics. At least for Kanto and Johto for now.

When we got to our room we were greeted with a lot of flashing lights and beeping. The eggs were flashing bright and fast while shaking and shivering inside their respective incubators.

'Quick! Hank get the eggs out, they are about to hatch!' I said to Hank quickly. Hank left me to lean against the door frame as he quickly went into the room to open the incubators and pull eggs out as quickly as he could.

I shut the door noticing that each egg seemed to hatch just as Hank pulled them out, or a few seconds after he got them out.

One egg hatched just as Hank was pulling it out of the incubator. It got a leg and its tail stuck in there. It gave a frightened little cry and delivered an electric shock to Hank. He gave it a tug and pulled the baby Pokemon free of the incubator. Hank gasped a hasty 'Mine!' after getting shocked. He quickly put the baby up on the bed to separate it from the others before quickly going back to pull all the others out of the incubators before they could hatch.

As soon as Hank pulled the last egg from the incubator and set it on the floor he flopped onto the bed next to his baby Pokemon and panted hard. Thirty-Three little raptor looking baby Pokemon stumbled around on the floor of the room letting off little sparks of electricity while they tried to find their feet.

'GAAH!' Hank shouted suddenly as his baby Pokemon snuggled into him for the first time, accidentally electrocuting him in the process. As cute as they were, my leg was aching and I needed to sit. Hank's baby Pokemon was startled by his shout and started to cry at his reaction. Hank sat up and started to pat and cuddle the baby Pokemon to try and settle it down.

I slowly limped over to the room chair, using the wall for support, and sat down. I watched the baby Pokemon closely. I wanted to pick the healthiest one, especially if I was going to plan any kind of revenge. They seemed to be called "Stator" as that is the name they repeated while they chirped to each other. Stator. Static Raptor. Made sense to me especially after the electric shocks that Hank had received from his one.

The stator had a bright yellow base colour over their body with a black hood over their heads. The black hood trailed into a stripe that went over their backs and to the tips of their tails. On the top of their muzzles they all had their own yellow lightning bolt shape. Each one was unique. On the top of their hoods on their heads they had black feathered crests and were covered in a soft down like ducklings. Over their knees they had a thick black on top of a white stripe that was jagged like a heart beat pulse. These were also different between each individual. The black stripe down their back blotched down their sides like thick dribbled paint between their shoulders and hips. Their tails had the beginning of feathers growing on them. Actually only half of them had the tell tale signs of tail feathers starting to grow.

I noticed that Hank's stator did not have tail feathers starting to grow. Maybe that was the difference between male and female. I started to do another head count. I could only count Thirty-Two now. There was one missing. I had shut the door behind myself so maybe I just missed one while I counted. I looked around again but better this time. I looked down next to my seat and saw the one that I hadn't counted sitting next to the leg of the chair. This one had the feathers growing on the tail.

'Stator!' They greeted me cheerfully before chirping contently at my side. The rest were amused amongst themselves and paid neither myself or Hank any attention. I dropped my hand down next to them with a smile. This one had a double lightning bolt shape on the top of his muzzle. It was similar to the hazard sign for touching an electric fence. 'Did you want to grow up with me?' I asked the hatchling. I was answered with a nuzzle and a lick to my hand. The lick left my hand tingling.

'Hank this one is mine,' I called out to him. Hank nodded as he got off the bed and came over, stepping around and over the numerous baby Stator while they chirped and played amongst themselves. Hank picked up my new Pokemon and took them onto the bed to sit with his one. 'We better call Nurse Mel before we get too attached and try to keep them all for ourselves.' Hank sighed. I sighed as well and gave a nod. I pressed the nurse call button on the chair.

It didn't take long before Mel rushed into the room. She stopped and looked around before her eyes went big and she gave an excited squeal. 'OH! HOW CUTE!' She squeaked loudly enough that I could feel my ears ringing a little. 'Shut the door!' I snapped at her. I did not want to let any of the hatchlings out of the room. The last thing that I needed was Lee on my case about trying to take more than my pay or losing any of "his" merchandise. Mel jumped a little, startled by my tone before quickly shutting the door behind herself. 'You need to tell Lee this happened so that we can empty this already small and cramped room.' Hank said to her in a serious and firm tone. Hank was cuddling our two Stator on the bed. Mel's face darkened before she gave an understanding nod. She left the room as swiftly and suddenly as she had come in, making sure to close the door behind herself.

'Ten to supposedly loving homes and the rest breeding stock.' Hank said with a grim tone and a sigh at the end. 'Yeah… maybe that won't be so bad for them,' I hoped with a furrowed brow. 'All we can do is raise these two and hope for the best. They seemed to pick us after all.' Hank said to me softly. Probably an attempt at cheering me up. I gave him a slight smile. We waited in silence until Lee entered the room.

'How curious,' Lee mused when he entered the room, shutting the door behind himself. He had a box in one hand with a lid on it like a shoe box. He knelt down and looked at them for a long while in silence. Soon he pulled out a device like a smart phone and scanned one of the stator with tail feathers. 'Male!' The device announced in a clear voice. It didn't say anything else. It must have needed further information coded into the next update for it to give any more information. This was a new Pokemon after all. Lee then scanned the next Stator, one of the ones with no tail feathers. 'Female!' The device announced. 'Like the adults but still almost nothing like them,' Lee said coldly before he looked between both of us, standing up again. This last bit of information irked me. I had no idea of the conditions that Lee was keeping the adults in. I had no doubt that they would be confused and hating being locked up. They would have been wild predators, free to run wherever they wanted. They didn't ask for this. Like me! I didn't ask for this!

Before my rage could bubble too much Lee dropped two different poke balls on my lap. A great ball and a premier ball. 'They are empty. The great ball is registered to Hank, the premier ball to Milo. Catch your two Pokemon first. I will be taking the rest for their first check up in the lab. After this Nurse Mel will be back to check both of yours.' Lee said in a blunt matter of fact tone.

I nodded and sighed as I held the great ball up for Hank. Hank carried my stator over to me and placed him on my lap carefully before taking the great ball from me. I activated the premier ball making it grow in my hand. I held up the pearly white poke ball as the baby Pokemon settled in my lap. Before I could react the stator snatched the ball from my hand and bit it. In a flicker of red light the ball opened and the Stator was pulled into the ball. The ball snapped shut and fell onto my lap.

One.

Two.

Click!

Hank's Stator squealed in fear and soiled the bed at the sight. Several of the others also started to panic. 'Its ok! Its ok! Look!' I said quickly as I threw the ball on the floor. The ball bounced on the floor and opened up releasing my stator. He gave a squeal of delight, probably thinking this was a great game. He picked up his poke ball and brought it back to me much like a dog. After seeing this the others looked on curiously. Hank sat next to his Stator and held the great ball out of her. She touched her nose to the button on the ball and also caught herself. The ball opened and she was pulled in, in a flash of red light.

One.

Click!

She was in and caught. I took my white ball back from my Stator's mouth. 'Return' I called him. He changed into a red light and zapped back into the premier ball. I pressed the button on the premier ball to shrink it before slipping it into my pocket.

'That makes this easy,' Lee said with a smirk. He opened up the box he had in his hand and tipped an assortment of odd poke balls onto the floor. The baby Pokemon, thought that this was all a fun game and all ran to bite a poke ball in a race to get caught before the others did. They all caught themselves in no less than ten seconds. There was a dim chorus of wobbling and clicking poke balls. Once all the balls were still Lee started picking them up and putting them back in the box. 'I will be back with Nurse Mel shortly' Lee announced before picking up the box and leaving the room.


	6. Chapter 6

Black Lightning Chapter 6

I looked down at my hand, rolling the premier ball in my hand while I thought. The premier ball was a pearlescent white with a high gloss sheen. The red band around the lip of the opening and the button only made the white look brighter. I now had a Pokemon. An unknown, new Pokemon. My first one and I was the first person other than Lee, the chairman and Hank to own one of these. 'How does it feel to have your first Pokemon?' Hank asked me with a smug smirk. 'It is still sinking in. We found them together and now… I get an opportunity to study a living version of the fossils that I discovered. It's a dream come true for any archeologist. I feel like a prospector who found the biggest gold nugget ever!' I said quietly while it sunk in. I smiled and released my little Stator.

'I am going to name you Nugget,' I said to the Stator as he blinked a few times and looked up at me. He ran in a circle and then sat next to my chair with happy chirps. I looked up at Hank with a small smile. 'How do you feel getting your first Pokemon?' I asked Hank.

Hank winced and looked away nervously as he released his own stator onto the bed next to him again. 'She isn't my first Pokemon…' Hank admitted to me with a complicated expression on his face. 'What do you mean? What didn't you tell me?' I asked looking at him closely. My brow began to knit as I felt myself frown.

Hank cleared his throat and looked at me squarely. He had his serious face on. 'Milo… I'm from this world. I was born here. My first Pokemon was a shiny Ponyta' Hank said to me quietly. He was watching my eyes, probably calculating how much he should tell me. I took in a deep breath, my gut told me that there was a lot more. 'Ok. Keep talking. If I am going to be your wife I better know what I am getting myself into. You know about my childhood and those kinds of things about me, it's your turn to share.' I said to him as I rested back into the chair. I pressed the button for the extension underneath the arm chair to slowly raise up to put my legs up.

Hank ran his hand over his head with a frown before petting his electric raptor baby. 'Well I didn't lie to you about my parents. My dad died in a war, he was an army Major. He died when I was eleven. My mum did the best that she could as a single mother with three children. I have an older brother and sister… I don't know what they are doing now or if they are even still in the same town any more. My Dad left us his two Pokemon. An Alakazam and a Ninetales. They helped my mother with a lot of things after my Dad died.' Hank said to me soberly.

'How did you get the shiny Ponyta as your starter?' I asked him with my head tilted to the side. Hank was either lucky, from a wealthy family or both. 'My dad took all of us on a camping trip before the battle he died in. I turned ten on that camping trip. None of us had caught our first Pokemon yet and my parents hadn't bought us any from any breeders. My dad promised us that he would teach us how he caught his first Pokemon, like his father had done with him. It is apparently a tradition in our family. We were all excited to go on this trip with him. My brother caught his first. My dad took us out one at a time, away from the camp to go catching. My brother caught a Spearow. The next day my sister went out with him and she caught a Doduo. The day after I went out with him and we came across a herd of Ponyta. One of them was shiny, when I saw him I wanted him. He didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the herd. They all ignored him. By the end of the day I had caught him and we spent the rest of the vacation training our new Pokemon together and doing things as a family. My sister caught a Poliwag on the day we went fishing in that trip. My brother caught a Magikarp, and I a Remoraid. Dad wouldn't let us leave our fishing spot until we had all caught something. He wanted to make sure we could all catch a Pokemon no matter what technique we were using.' Hank reminisced a little while he told me the story.

'Then how did you end up in my world?' I asked him feeling a little confused. 'My mother used to have Belinda's job. The Chairman of the Pewter Museum was Lee's father, he still might be the chairman. The Remoraid that I had caught I gave to Lee as a gift. He didn't have his first Pokemon yet and I was friends with him back then. His tenth birthday was shortly after mine. When we were twelve Lee and I got into an argument, it was a year after my dad had been killed in action. Lee challenged me to a battle, my Ponyta against his Pokemon. The Remoraid that I had gifted him. Despite the type advantage that he had, he hadn't trained his Remoraid at all. He had only kept it in his front pond and over fed it until it was fat and lazy. Remoraid lost the battle, but Lee kept pushing him to fight. I tried to pull out but… Lee said something that he shouldn't have. He called my dad a coward and said that I would be just like him. I would die running away. My dad died retreating his men from the battle to regroup. He was roasted alive by a Charizard in the attempt to get his men away safely. Lee's words made me see red. I ordered my Ponyta to attack the Remoraid again. This time the attack killed the Remoraid. Lee's words hadn't just made me angry. My ponyta lost his shit and went on a rampage. When we saw that remoraid was dead Lee and I fought each other until we were both bloodied head to toe. We only stopped because the police arrived and pulled us apart.' Hank said grimly.

Hank sat in silence for a while, watching me process the information. 'Ok so the police got involved, there was a Pokemon death… and…?' I trailed off looking at him. Hank pulled a face like he had sucked on a lemon. 'My ponyta and I went on trial. We were both charged with murder. Ponyta was sentenced to be imprisoned by the defendants until I served my sentence. Banishment for fifteen years. This world hasn't got Juvenile detention, we have banishment to your world.' Hank said quietly. He was looking down at his Stator and stroking her down her back which in turn shot little sparks from her static downy feathers.

'I have officially served my sentence, which was why I contacted Lee to be the sponsor for your expedition. I didn't mean for you to get dragged into this mess. I'm sorry Milo.' Hank said to me as he looked at me with sad eyes. I sighed heavily and shook my head. 'No, it's not your fault. I would have loved to come here with you any way. I am angry I am here because Lee kidnapped us at gunpoint. It's how I came into this world, I don't hate it in this world. I hate how I was dragged here against my will.' I said with a huff. Hank frowned while he watched me. 'Lee has rich kid issues but he isn't so bad once you get to know him a little better. He is just a huge big snob with way more money than sense.' Hank said with a furrowed brow in a lame attempt to cover for Lee. I could see that Hank still felt guilty for killing the remoraid.

'I'm still pissed Hank. Also… if you have served your sentence then why haven't I met this Ponyta of yours yet?' I asked him as I folded my arms over my chest. 'I'm not sure. Looks like it is the next thing that I will be asking Lee.' Hank mused.

As if right on cue Nurse Mel and Lee walked into the room without knocking.

Before Lee could speak Hank spoke up. 'Lee where is Butane?' Hank asked suddenly. Lee stopped in place looking at Hank surprised. Lee blinked a few times and cleared his throat. He looked like he was being very careful with which emotions he chose to express. 'He is being detained in the basement. Father has been keeping him there all this time. If you would like to make an appointment to get him back I can arrange that for you.' Lee said calmly with a hint of a private school accent. Nurse Mel was busy checking Nugget while Lee spoke. 'He is healthy, now last one,' Nurse Mel said to herself as she got up and went to Hank on the bed and his little Stator. I noticed then that she was wearing rubber gloves. That was probably a good idea. Nurse Mel was thorough and quick with the check up. 'Both healthy,' She announced. 'Good, leave us to speak in private.' Lee said with a voice of authority. Nurse Mel nodded and quickly scurried out of the room. She looked like she really just wanted to not be here. Lee must have said or done something to her to make her so skittish.

Lee looked at both of us and then smiled bitterly at Hank. 'I have a surprise for both of you. I have booked someone special to be Dr Smith's Physiotherapist, but she has to go to her. Hank your soon-to-be-bride will be getting looked after by your older sister in your birth town, Mahogany Town. Because we want a speedy recovery you will be leaving as soon as possible. We have your train tickets here…' Lee said as he pulled a pair of tickets out of his pocket and handed them to me. 'I'm not leaving without Butane.' Hank said firmly. 'I expect that you won't. I will go and see the Chairman now to see if we can organise your meeting. Was there anything else that I can do to help you get better faster?' Lee asked looking at me. I narrowed me eyes at him before shaking my head. 'No, nothing.' I responded. Lee glared back at me before leaving the room. It felt like Lee had planned all of this just to get us out of his face as quickly as possible.

'So you named your Stator "Nugget"?' Hank asked me, probably as a distraction. 'Yes, short for "Gold Nugget." It's probably a little cliche huh?' I asked him with a faint smile. 'No, it's fine. The name means something to both of you. I have half a mind to name my little one Electra, especially after the shocks that she gave me.' Hank said with a grin, petting his Stator again. 'Electra, that one is a little… obvious. It's like every other grey pet in my world being named Smokey.' I said teasingly. Hank laughed. 'No the obvious over used name for electric types here is Sparky.' Hank said while he chuckled. 'Because of that I am now going to name her Snuggles.' Hank said teasingly. When he said those words his Stator gave a happy chirp and cuddled into him. 'You like that name? I was joking!' Hank said defensively and in shock while the Stator happily snuggled into him. I snorted before laughing. 'Welcome to the family Snuggles.' I said before laughing more as Hank shot me a glare. 'How is that name supposed to be any good in battle? She is going to get teased so hard by everyone for this!' Hank said in a suddenly worried and serious tone. 'Hank look at her! Something tells me that she is not a battler and that your beloved Butane will be protecting her quite a lot.' I said with a grin settling down from my giggles. Hank looked down at Snuggles and sighed while she looked up at him with happy whistles. Her tail was wagging like a happy puppy. There was no going back on that name now.

Nugget saw all the cuddles that Snuggles was getting and surprised us all by jumping up onto the bed to join Snuggles and Hank. My eyes went wide as I looked at Nugget. 'Nugget might grow up to be an excellent battler on the other hand. That… was impressive.' I remarked as I looked at Nugget. 'Very impressive, did you want to swap?' Hank asked me jokingly. 'Why? I'm going to be Mrs Dr Williams soon, what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine.' I teased right back at him with a smirk.

There was a knock at the door. 'Come in,' I called out, a little surprised that any one would actually knock. Everyone else so far had just let themselves in. No one really knocked.


	7. Chapter 7

Black Lightning Chapter 7

Belinda came in with a silver tray in her hands. She walked over to Hank with the tray. Sitting on the tray was a green poke ball and a note. Hank pocketed the poke ball and then read the note. 'Understood, thank you Belinda.' Hank said to her. 'The Chairman has also asked that you do not let him out of the ball until you get back to Mahogany Town. I am also to drive you to the train station as soon as you are packed. The train leaves in twenty minutes.' Belinda informed us. 'We have nothing to pack, we can go now.' I said to Belinda. Belinda nodded and looked at Hank. Hank nodded. 'Can we keep our Stator out of their balls for now?' I asked Belinda. Belinda frowned a little. 'It is probably best that you return them for now. The Museum hasn't released your findings to the public yet and we would like to keep it as a surprise for tonight's news.' She said to me. I sighed and nodded before returning Nugget to his ball. Hank did the same with Snuggles. The stress of Lee breathing down our necks wasn't worth it.

Nurse Mel entered the room with a wheelchair and helped me up. I sat in the wheelchair and Hank grabbed his jacket and our backpacks. Everything that we had when we were kidnapped. Nurse Mel wheeled me down the corridors to the lift with Belinda and Hank following behind. 'What are our legal crying capacities?' Hank asked Belinda while we went down the Pewter Museum secret hallways. 'Your limit is four, Milo's is eight,' Belinda said. 'Why?' I asked Belinda over my shoulder while Nurse Mel wheeled me into the Lift silently. 'Yours is eight because you made a significant contribution to our world of knowledge. Hanks is four for the same reason. After he was banished his carrying capacity was reduced to two, but with the recent discovery he is allowed two more. If he continues to work hard and make more huge contributions like this or if he defeats all of both regions Gyms and then defeats the elite four it will expand more. But for now his limit is four.' Belinda explained.

I frowned at knowing what Hank's limits were. Right now we had to focus on me getting better, the wedding and other planning of things. Once that was done I was going to help Hank increase his legal carrying capacity for Pokemon. If we both had full teams of the right Pokemon we could take with us to work it would make our jobs much easier.

The lift doors opened with a ring of a bell and opened up to a huge underground car park. Nurse Mel wheeled us to a mini van with a huge logo printed on the side and "Pewter Museum" written under it. Inside were some extra bags. Belinda opened up the back doors of the van and took out a remote and pressed a button. A ramp started to unfold for the wheelchair to go into the back of the van. Hank opened the side door to the van and sat on the bench seat that faced where the wheelchair was going to sit. He put the two backpacks next to him. Once the ramp was down Nurse Mel wheeled me up the ramp into the back of the van and started to buckle me in. Hank watched and waited to make sure his help wasn't needed before buckling himself in. 'Bye you guys, see you after your honeymoon!' Nurse Mel called out with a sad smile before shutting the back doors on the van. Belinda shut the side door and then climbed into the driver's seat. Not a word was said between us as she drove us to the train station.

Once we were there she unbuckled the wheelchair and lowered the ramp so she could wheel me out of the van. 'Hank those extra bags in the back are also yours. Take them with you. We have arranged for your brother to pick you up on the other side at Goldenrod City. He will then take you back to Mahogany Town area where you are to stay and wait further instructions. Visits to the Lake of rage are permitted and any leaving of the town that your sister authorises. You may have served your sentence but you now need to prove that you aren't a killer anymore.' Belinda said bluntly. Hank went to argue but Belinda cut him off. 'Court orders. Lee pulled a lot of strings for you Hank. You are lucky to get out of the museum. If it was not for Milo you would still be under house arrest at the Museum.' Belinda said to him sternly. Hank just sighed loudly. 'Yes mum!' He said with a frown and a pout. Belinda just smirked.

'I am sorry Milo I need to take the wheelchair with me,' Belinda apologised to me. I nodded and got up. Hank came over to lend me a shoulder so that I could get up. I took the tickets out of my pocket and looked at them. 'Thank you Belinda for bringing us out here. I suppose I will see you again the next time I come past the Museum. That is if Lee doesn't banish us to some remote location somewhere to dig in the dirt for all eternity.' I said with a chuckle. Belinda smiled and waved her hand. 'I'm sure he will do exactly that. Goodbye Milo,' Belinda said to me with a relaxed smile. 'Bye Belinda,' I returned the parting greeting before Hank started to walk me to the station.

'We need platform one,' I said to Hank while he helped me. 'Got it. How is the leg?' He asked me quietly while we walked. I watched as a person walked past with a phanpy trailing behind them. 'In pain but at least it is bearable for now.' I said to him. Hank gave a grunt and tried to shift the bags he had on his back while helping me walk. 'Do you think that you could wear your backpack for now since we now suddenly have a mystery suitcase I need to wheel around from the Pewter Museum?' He asked me. I took my weight onto my good leg and stopped leaning on him. 'Yeah I think I can do that,' I said to him as he took both of the backpacks off and handed me mine. I slung it into my back and leaned back against Hank before we continued on to platform one. We made it just in time to get into the train and take our seats. Luckily for us it was no longer peak hour and most of the seats were empty. Hank brought me over to the handicapped seating and helped me take my backpack off before sitting down. We both got comfortable and waited.

I was suddenly woken up by a nudge and Hank's voice. I didn't even realise that I had fallen asleep. 'We are here. Milo we have to get off the train now.' Hank encouraged me to wake up faster as he got up and pulled me up with him. He passed me a bag to hold onto as he quickly got us both off the train with our luggage. We had only just made it out of the door of the train before it shut behind us and then moved along to its next stop. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. The place was bustling with people. I guess that is what is normal for a city, people everywhere and Pokemon.

I put my backpack on and waited for Hank to get his on also. He then stepped next to me again so I could lean on him and we could walk together while he pulled the suitcase behind himself. 'How do we find your brother?' I asked Hank as we slowly moved through the crowds to exit the train station. 'Look for the fearow with the bowtie.' Hank said with a smirk. 'Why a bow tie?' I asked Hank a little confused as to why it was funny. Hank only chuckled. 'Because Screechy likes wearing bowties. I don't know why but the moment that screechy saw someone at Dad's funeral with one he always wanted to wear one.' Hank snickered. 'Weird…' I mused while we walked. Hank smirked as he lead us both to the exit.

A shadow flew over us and Hank looked up. I followed his line of sight to see a huge angry looking fearow fly over us again wearing a bowtie around his neck. He gave a loud screech before turning into a red light zapping down to a man standing before us in a white lab coat.

He looked similar to Hank except he had scruffy hair and a five o'clock shadow with a goatee. He pushed the square shaped glasses up his nose. The top of his nose scrunched up as he looked me up and down before a disapproving look was shot at Hank. Something told me that he didn't like me, just from the way that I was dressed. Under his lab coat was a grey turtleneck, black trousers and black leather shoes.

Next to him holding his hand was a little girl in a yellow summer dress with cute matching sandals. She held onto the paw of a cubchoo with her other hand. The girl looked to be about four to five years old. She had short blue hair tied up in pigtails and big bright blue eyes.

'Daddy is that my angry uncle?' The little girl asked the man that looked like a scruffy version of Hank. 'Yes it is…' The man said in an equally gruff voice. I had a feeling he was an educated idiot and a bit of a snob. 'This is your Uncle Hank and… excuse me but who are you?' He asked me with a faint sneer. I smirked and held out my hand. 'DOCTOR Milo Smith. Archeologist for the Pewter Museum,' I said introducing myself. 'Doctor Clyde Williams, Head of the research team for Silph Co. A pleasure to meet you Dr Smith' Clyde said with a little more respect than how he first looked at me. 'Soon to be Doctor Milo Williams though brother, or Aunty Milo!' Hank said in a playful tone as he looked down to the little girl with the wink. The girl just looked up at him with a confused expression. 'Uncle Hank why aren't you angry? You are Daddy's angry brother!' She insisted. Hank smirked a little. 'I was sent away on a long holiday so that I could be happy and not angry anymore.' Hank said in a cheery tone. 'What is your name?' I asked her with a grin. 'I'm Cecilia, why will you be my Aunty Milo soon?' She asked with an innocent smile.

I looked at Hank and then Clyde. Hank was amused but Clyde looked tense. 'Because I am going to marry your Angry Uncle Hank soon and be his wife.' I said with a grin. The little girl gasped loudly and her eyes went wide. 'You are getting married? Like a princess with a clefairy-tail wedding? Can I be your flower girl? Please! Please! Please?' Cecilia begged me. Hank burst out laughing. 'Sure kid. We don't know who else we are going to ask.' Hank said with a smile. 'Shall we go now? My leg really hurts' I cut in with a frown.

'You have a sore leg? Didn't your mama kiss it better for you?' Cecilia asked with a worried tone. I winced a little and looked at her as we all started to walk together, Clyde taking the lead. 'Umm I don't have a mama… or a father, or any family.' I responded quietly. 'What happened to your leg?' Clyde cut in before Cecilia could get too upset by my response. 'It got crunched by a Mightyena.' Hank said dryly. I saw Clyde flinch at that. 'Pooch?' Clyde asked. 'Pooch' Hank confirmed. 'Dang… You must be one tough woman.' Clyde muttered while he pulled Cecilia along and glanced back at me. 'When did this happen?' Clyde asked Hank. Hank looked down at Cecilia before looking at his brother seriously. 'Tell you later.' Hank responded firmly. Clyde nodded and took a set of keys from his pocket.

Clyde pressed the button on a small remote to unlock a very fancy looking black sedan parked in the loading zone. He helped take the bags off myself and Hank before Hank helped me into the front passenger seat of the car. Hank got into the seat behind me and helped to buckle in Cecilia and Cubchoo next to him. Clyde got into the driver's seat and started up the car. 'I have to drop Cecilia off at home on the way. She will come with Mandy in a few days.' Clyde said as he started driving. 'Mandy? Mandy Summers?' Hank asked Clyde from the back seat. 'Yes, I got married to Mandy Summers, she is Mandy Williams now.' Clyde said to his brother rather proudly before he looked at me sideways with an odd expression. 'So how did you two meet?' Clyde asked with a tone that seemed to be skepticism of some sort.

'We met in high school and shared a lot of classes together. Milo inspired me to become a Geologist when she decided to become an Archeologist. We worked so well together and knew each other for such a long time as good friends I thought that I might try my luck and ask her to marry me.' Hank said from the back seat in a proud tone. 'You are a Geologist now?' Clyde asked looking up at his rear vision mirror at Hank. 'He is one of the best in the field. If it wasn't for his discovery of an ancient mud slide we wouldn't have come across the biggest fossil find in both of our careers. The find was so big that well… you will see tonight on the news or maybe before then if you get to Mahogany Town before the seven o'clock time slot.' I said feeling a little smug. Clyde only hummed as he looked at me sideways. I had a funny feeling that he still didn't like me, but he did respect me at least. 'I suppose I can understand the secrecy, I can't really talk to anyone about what I do at Silph Co, but I am curious as to why a new discovery is being withheld by the Pewter Museum. Usually they are very quick in sharing new discoveries and information with the world. Why the secrecy this time?' Clyde asked Hank. 'You will see soon enough,' Hank responded.

'Uncle Hank did you get me any presents on your holiday away?' Cecilia asked in an innocent voice. I heard Hank chuckle and a ruffling sound like he was digging through his backpack. 'What is it?' I heard her ask. 'Its a compass. The needle always points north. If you have a map and need to find how to go in the right direction to get somewhere then the compass will help you to not get lost.' Hank explained. 'So it's like a tiny nosepass?' She asked. 'Yes just like a tiny nosepass, except you don't have to feed a compass or clean up poop after it,' Hank said with a cheeky laugh. Cecilia giggled at that comment. 'Thank you Uncle Hank!' She chimed happily. 'Look Sniffles! It's a compass, now we will never get lost!' Cecilia said happily. It sounded like she was showing the Cubchoo her new present. 'Cubchoo!' The Pokemon replied happily. I could hear it clapping its paws together. I could also hear Hank chuckle to himself.

Clyde pulled up to the front of a tall apartment block. A doorman dressed in a red suit with polished brass buttons walked up to the car as Clyde pressed a button to roll the window down. 'Dr Williams, welcome home' the middle aged man greeted him. 'Thank you Mr Honda but I am only dropping off Cecilia and Sniffles. I have a drive ahead of me and won't be back for a week or so.' Clyde said to the man. 'Very well Dr Williams. I will see you when you return. Safe drive. Come along Miss Williams and young miss Sniffles. I will take you up stairs to Mrs Williams.' Mr Honda said in a polite tone as he opened the back door. Sniffles and Cecilia unplugged. I heard Cecilia give Hank a hug before getting out of the car. 'Bye Uncle Hank, bye Aunty Milo! I will see you at Granny's house!' She said enthusiastically waving at us as she took Mr Honda's hand. The three of them waved goodbye to us as we drove away.

Hank let out a low whistle. 'Wow Clyde! High society much?' Hank teased. Clyde scoffed and frowned. 'Not all of us like digging in dirt all day and playing in rocks like cavemen!' Clyde snapped back. 'You think that's what Geologists DO all day you over stuffed peacock? There is much more to it than digging in the dirt! Also if you didn't have us around how would you get your precious metals to make your super gadgets in Silph Co huh?' Hank point out to him in a defensive tone. 'I am not an overstuffed peacock you heavy handed brute! Silph Co invent many useful things for the common man!' Clyde snapped back. I sighed and rolled my eyes. 'Oh the common man, mustn't forget him! But I bet that you don't get to discover brand new Pokemon in your line of work. Hank and I discovered an entire NEW species which I am quite sure hasn't got any other Pokemon in its genus. It is completely unique,' I said in a blunt tone as I looked at Clyde while he drove. His eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. 'You two discovered a new Pokemon?' Clyde stuttered out. 'Yes it is being announced tonight on the news.' Hank said dryly.

'Maybe you misjudged us Clyde.' I said to him pointedly, not impressed with his attitude towards us. 'No, I know my brother very well. He might have made a new discovery but he is still a brute. You on the other hand are obviously smart but…' He trailed off at the end. 'You don't trust me as far as you can sneeze?' I asked as I looked at him. Clyde said nothing, he gave me a curt nod. 'That's ok, because with how you have reacted to me and treated me so far my impression of you is that you are a judgemental princess with a phobia of anything lower than upper middle class.' I said to him bluntly. Hank burst out laughing as I saw Clyde grit his teeth and start to turn red. 'Don't get offended Clyde. Life is too short for white lies. My weapon of choice is brutal honesty. If any one in this car is a brute it's me, not your brother.' I said to him calmly while he silently seethed. Hank continued to laugh in the back seat. 'You have interesting taste in women Hank… we will see what Alph thinks of her.' Clyde said in a dry tone.

Hank immediately stopped laughing. 'Alph likes an honest heart and he judges fairly!' Hank piped up defensively. 'Who is Alph?' I asked curiously. 'Dad's Alakazam. Everything pretty much runs through him. He holds it together for us and warns us of potential bad decisions that we could make that would affect our future,' Hank said grimly. 'Oh… does that mean your Dad was a psychic?' I asked them both. 'Yeah…' They both answered at the same time in the same depressed tone. Then there was silence, for the whole rest of the trip. No one said a word. The air was heavy, and screaming with an aggressive silence.


	8. Chapter 8

Black Lightning Chapter 8

Clyde pulled the car up to a house on the outskirts of Mahogany Town. The house was an old country style weatherboard house. It looked like an old ranch house with its verandah that went all the way around the house. It was a light stained wood house with white trimmed windows and door frame. The front door was a dark stained red wood with a round, coloured stained glass window showing a Kadabra, Sunkern and a Vulpix, which divided the round window into thirds. I could only imagine that it was Alph and two other Pokemon who lived here. The fly screen door had been left open. The house was surrounded by tall spruce trees and long grass. We had driven through part of Mahogany Town and past it to what almost seemed to be halfway to the Lake of Rage to get there. It was a lovely spot of countryside here. When the car stopped we were greeted by an ominous sight.

An old woman in a baby pink apron and a messy up-do bun was waiting for us with a flour covered wooden spoon in hand. Under the apron was a soft cream coloured blouse with the sleeves rolled up. Her narrowed blue eyes looked at Clyde and then in the back seat where Hank was. Her mouth was pressed into a thin line which only accentuated the lines in her aged skin. She looked furious.

Standing on either side of her was an Alakazam and a Ninetales. Both of those Pokemon wore a sash around their neck with what seemed to be army honours medals hanging on them. Both Pokemon had an air about them like an unpredictable old war veteran. In their silence they shouted volumes of words of wisdom and advice, and the many scars covering them showed the struggles of their youth.

'I'm home Ma!' Clyde announced as he exited the car with a smug grin. The old woman ignored him and pointed at Hank. 'Front and Centre boy!' She commanded him. Hank quickly unbuckled and scrambled out to stand before his mother. She back handed him hard across the face before hugging him tightly. Hank took the hit and hugged her tightly in return. 'My baby boy is home. I missed you so much!' She almost sang to him. She had transformed from a bitter old Hag to a loving mother in a split second. Clyde rolled his eyes and pulled a face in disgust before going into the house and out of sight.

I unbuckled and opened the door to attempt to get out. When the door clicked open I felt a growl ripple the air before it suddenly went silent. I looked up to see that Alakazam stood at my door looking at me closely. I felt a strange tingle in my head, like the onset of a headache, but the pain never hit. 'Alph?' I asked him quietly. The Alakazam narrowed his eyes at me slightly and used his psychic attack to levitate me above my seat and gently remove me from the car. He didn't put me down just yet. I could feel him going through my mind, searching me for anything that he might not like.

It is a strange sensation having an Alakazam go through your mind. I felt like he was flicking through my memories like an office worker searching for a lost file in a draw.

After a few minutes he gently set me on my feet and Ninetales stepped around me so I could lean on him for support. 'Welcome to the family Dr Milo Smith. You have my blessing,' The old Alakazam echoed into my head. 'I suppose you know who I am now then?' I thought as clearly as possible in my head. I could feel my cheeks burning a little. The old Pokemon gave a nod and shared a feeling of joy with me rather than actual words. I feel happy now.

I could feel the Ninetales make a sound like he was purring. I looked down and realised that I had been absentmindedly stroking him between the shoulders. 'Kyuubi likes that and he has decided that he likes you too.' Alakazam echoed to me in my mind. I smiled and scratched Kyuubi between the shoulders more. 'Thank you!' I said softly. Kyuubi looked up at me with a smile and started to pant with his tongue lolled out to the side. This made me giggle.

'Hank who is this?' I heard the old woman's voice ask. This snapped me out of my train of thought. I looked up to see Hank's mother eyeing me with as much curiosity as she was judging my external worth as a person. I suddenly felt very tiny under her gaze. She was someone that I needed to like me, I wasn't sure how this was going to go. 'Ma this is a co-worker of mine, Doctor Milo Smith. She is an Archeologist and also my fiancee.' Hank said as he wrapped an arm around his mother's waist to bring her over to me. I smiled wearily and held out my hand. 'An honour to meet you Mrs Williams,' I said trying to sound brave, but feeling smaller under her gaze now that she was much closer to me.

She looked shocked but shook my hand in return. 'Well you have better manners than my sons and you seem to have won over Alph and Kyuubi in record time. I trust both of those Pokemon with my life. If they like you then I do too! Just a word of warning… break my son's heart and I will rip yours out to show you it's last beat before you die,' She said to me quietly as she leant forward, but not quietly enough that Hank didn't hear her. 'Ma! Don't challenge Milo like that! She has as much grit in her gut and fire in her heart as you do!' Hank said with a frown and a blush. I had never seen him blush before.

'Wait… Hank… you can blush? Like for real you get embarrassed like that?' I asked him teasingly before looking at his mother. 'Oh I think we might have to be around each other more often. I never get to see him like that!' I said with a cheeky smile. Hanks mother let out a single loud laugh before smirking. 'You have never seen him blush before?' She asked me. I could only shake my head. 'Not once.' I admitted with a frown. Suddenly she was frowning at me also. She looked me up and down again and glared. The scary hag looking woman was again before me.

'How long have you been together with him for?' She asked suddenly suspicious. 'We met in high school, went to university together and then worked together.' Hank answered for me. His mother glared at him over her shoulder. 'I wasn't asking you!' She snapped before she looked back to me again. 'How long?' She asked again. I sighed. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

'We have been together for two weeks... I think. We didn't date we just got engaged. Hank and I have known each other for so long and neither of us had anyone else, it just made sense. As an archeologist I don't see anyone or have any friends. Hank and I, we get along so well that I just can't imagine being without him now.' I spoke my heart and what I felt. She narrowed her eyes at me before she looked at Alph. 'She speaks truth. She loves Hank more than she is even aware of. She is a more than worthy bride and an excellent candidate to join the family.' Alph said using his strong psychic abilities to voice his thoughts out in the open.

My eyes went wide at Alph's words. I could feel my cheeks start to burn as I looked at Hank. Hank only grinned smugly while he watched me. 'So you love me now huh?' He teased. I gritted my teeth and glared at him. 'You're lucky that I can't walk Dr Williams!' I warned him with a growled voice. Hank only laughed before he gave a yelp. His mother had grabbed him by the ear and twisted it. 'Young man we have things to discuss about making the woman in your life angry.' His mother said in a grouchy tone. I took that as the matriarch's approval of me joining the family.

'But! But! But!' Hank stuttered quickly while he was dragged into the house. 'No buts! We talk now!' She demanded as they vanished behind the fly screen door. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. When they vanished it was then that I remembered our bags were still in the car. I had my poke ball in my pocket. I smiled a little as I took it out to look at it before looking at Alph.

'Would you like to meet little Nugget?' I asked. I had no doubt he knew about Nugget after rummaging around in my head like he did. 'We would be delighted to meet the little new born.' Alph echoed in my mind. I held the ball out with the button facing away from me. 'Come out Nugget, time to make friends,' I called him.

In a flash of red light Nugget materialised and turned around to look up at us. He boldly walked up to Kyuubi and sniffed at him. Kyuubi sniffed in return. Nugget looked around and chirped loudly, like he was calling someone.

'He wonders where his sister is.' Alph echoed into my mind. I looked over my shoulder back into the car. On the back seat were Hank's two poke balls. I was about to ask Alph to pass them to me but he was already tuned into my mind. Using his psychic abilities he made both balls levitate into my hands. 'Thank you Alph. Come out Snuggles!' I called as I held out her great ball. In a flash of red light she came out. She turned to face us and gave a shy whimper. Nugget jumped over to her excitedly and started to nuzzle her lovingly.

While Nugget comforted the shy Snuggles I looked down at the green poke ball with a sad sigh. 'Poor Butane… should I let him out too?' I asked Alph. 'He is angry and sad. Being out might make him happy, but he might also try to roast you alive.' Alph warned. I looked at Alph with a furrowed brow. 'You would protect me though right? Or at least slow him down enough for me to introduce myself before I was roasted alive?' I asked Alph as I looked at him. I couldn't begin to imagine the terrible things that they would have done to the poor equine. 'I will do my best to protect you.' Alph comforted me inside of my mind. He had already been looking into the ball to see how Butane was.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I held the ball out at arms length. 'Come out Butane,' I called him. In a brilliant flash of red a large Ponyta stood before me with bright blue flames. He was covered in scars, one of his ears were torn and anger and hate filled his eyes. He reared up at me with a neigh that was almost a roar. Around his neck was a string of ever-stones. All these years and they had refused to let him evolve. It must have been extremely uncomfortable.

I stood my ground and looked him in the eye. 'I am not your enemy!' I said to him firmly. I had stood before territorial wild horses before that were intent on kicking my brain out of my skull for entering their territory during the breeding season. Not running away and being louder than them usually scared them off. The difference was that Butane was a pokemon, not a dumb animal. Scaring Butane was not my goal, getting him to take me seriously without being burned alive was.

Butane snorted and pawed at the ground in warning, his ears pinned back and his nose wrinkled. At the threat Nugget chirped and stood in front of me to protect me. The little, two foot tall Pokemon had guts, I would give him that. Snuggles ducked behind Alph and looked up at Butane in fear. 'My name is Milo. I'm Hank's fiancee. I'm going to marry Hank. Do you understand? I'm not here to hurt you. We brought you home…' I trailed off at the end while I looked at him. Butane gave a shiver and stepped back with another snort. He looked around surprised.

He must have thought that he was still at the Pewter Museum. He must have been so angry that he didn't take notice of where he actually was. I stopped leaning on Kyuubi and slowly limped over to Butane to touch his nose softly. 'I can take the ever-stones off if you like. I imagine that it is very uncomfortable for you.' I said softly while I stroked his nose. Butane nickered and held still.

'Milo? Are you ok? I heard something!' I heard Hank call out to me. I looked over my shoulder to see Hank rush out of the house. I was still petting Butane on the nose softly. Snuggles ran up to Hank and nuzzled into his shin before trying to hide behind his legs. Hank stood looking at Butane and I with an expression of shock. 'Butane?' Hank called. His mother came out of the door slowly behind him followed by Clyde. Both of them looked shocked and horrified by the condition that Butane was in. Without all the scars I could imagine Butane being quite a handsome equine.

I felt a nudge and almost fell over. Butane nuzzled me before tossing his head up high. He trotted over to Hank to nuzzle him furiously while he snorted and nibbled on Hank's shirt. I smiled softly at the sight while Hank was nuzzled. Snuggles looked up curiously at Butane. 'Butane this is your new little sister. This is Snuggles. Snuggles this is Butane, he will be your big brother and protect you all the time ok?' Hank said as he introduced them. He was smiling with tears in his eyes.

'Stator!' Nugget announced firmly as he stomped over to to Hank, which made Hank laugh. 'This is Nugget, he is your baby brother Butane, you need to protect him too!' Hank said with a chuckle.

'Stator… Stat!' Nugget voiced loudly before jumping up and biting the string of ever-stones around Butane's neck, snapping them off. The moment the ever-stones were removed Butane started to flash with bright light. His form got even bigger and in a long white flash he was a Rapidash. Nugget spat out the ever-stones and ran around Butane to inspect him. I smiled softly while I watched him nudge and nuzzle Hank with uncontrollable joy. As a ponyta Butane was big but now he was huge. Butane was easily bigger than seventeen hands high, if not twenty or more.

'WHAT do you think you are DOING?' Yelled a voice at us suddenly. Everyone jumped and turned to look at the voice, except for Alph and Kyuubi. Alph and Kyuubi took that was their time to vanish into the house. I looked up to see a woman Pokemon trainer land on the back of a Hydreigon. We all looked at her dumbfounded. 'Janice!' I heard Hank call out happily.

This Janice woman had a long black ponytail, dark blue eyes and a flushed face. (Possibly from the flight) She wore flying goggles over her eyes and a scarf around her neck. She had a long brown leather trench coat over what seemed to be a jumpsuit. She had hiking runners on her feet and fingerless leather gloves on her hands. She jumped down off the Hydregon's back and returned him silently. Her lips were pressed together and her jaw looked clenched.

'Don't "Janice!" me Hank! What do you think you are doing leaving my patient to stand on her feet for so long on her own? Get her inside and resting NOW!' Janice demanded. She had a super strong presence about her. She must have been a strong trainer to have such an obedient Hydreigon. Everything I read about that Pokemon was bad news.

Nugget ran up to Janice fearlessly and started to sniff at her shoes before running around her. Janice looked at him distracted for a moment. 'What the hell is this thing? I've never seen one of those before!' She asked with a hint of collector's lust. 'He is mine. That is Nugget. He is a Stator, a completely new Pokemon.' I said to Janice as I felt Hank's arm slowly wrap around my waist. I rested my arm over Hank's shoulders and leant against him. 'Ugh! Not one of those man-made atrocities is it? Like Porygon and grimer?' Janice said as she pulled a face of disgust. 'No, Stator was hatched from a fossilised egg.' I said clearly and calmly. 'Oh cool! Where can I get one?' She asked as she looked at me before frowning. 'Answer that AFTER you are inside sitting on the couch with your leg up.' Janice then decided to cut in before I could answer her. I smirked a little as Hank started to lead me to the house.

I noticed that Butane and Snuggles were sniffing at each other. 'Dinner is soon guys! I will bring it out.' Hank said to Butane and Snuggles as he walked past. Butane gave Hank a snort and Snuggles chirped before the two of them started to run together around the house. Nugget gave a screech and then ran after them, not wanting to be left out of all the fun. Over my shoulder I saw Janice release a Dodrio, Poliwrath and a Tropius. All three were poised, ready to follow any instructions. 'Relax, it's almost dinner time.' Janice said to her Pokemon before following after Hank and I, easily catching up.

'So Lee told me that you had your knee shattered by crunch attack.' Janice said. Possibly in an attempt to start some small talk. 'Yeah, by Lee's Mightyena. Did he tell you that? He ordered that damned Pooch to crunch attack me. I'm starting to feel slightly ok about it though, now that Pooch has lost an eye,' I said in a blunt grumbled tone. 'What the shit! I am totally ripping his arms and legs off the next time I see him!' Janice growled. 'What was he thinking?' Janice asked in an angry voice. 'He was thinking that he was going to get lucky with my fiancee!' Hank said with a frown. 'Hank! You are engaged?' Janice asked him with surprise in her voice. 'Yeah, to me. Doctor Milo Smith. Pewter Museum's newest Archeologist. A pleasure to meet you.' I said with a chuckle.

Janice stopped in her tracks before catching up to us and holding the front door open for us. 'No way! Hank actually found someone with a working brain that he likes?' Janice asked in a teasing tone. 'What is that supposed to mean?' Hank asked her with a gruff tone. 'Well she isn't Mandy. Every boy in this area would eat their hat to get that bimbo's attention. You actually found yourself a real woman. Good job!' Janice congratulated her little brother with a heavy hand on his shoulder. Hank rolled his eyes but smiled. 'What was that you said about my wife?' Clyde called out from the next room. I couldn't help but giggle as Janice replied to him. 'Your wife is a dippy, blonde bimbo! Lovely lady but she is dumb as a bag of rocks Clyde!' Janice called back to him. 'Janice! Don't talk about my grand-daughter's mother like that! Even if it is true!' Their mother called out from what I assumed was the kitchen.

The hallway entry was polished floorboards. Actually it looked like every room in the house was polished floor boards. The walls were covered in a soft creamy wallpaper decorated with an oddish and sunkurn pattern on it. In the hallway was a small wooden corner table with a matching coat rack. Janice hung her coat and scarf on this rack. Hank lead me down to the end of the hallway past what I assumed were bedroom doors.

We entered the lounge room which matched the hallway. There was a large three seater couch and four matching armchairs around the large social area. On the wall was a huge flat screen TV. In the middle of the room a coffee table made from what looked like an old tree stump with hundreds of rings in it. Each item of furniture sat on a creamy coloured rug of its own.

Hank brought me over to the couch to help me sit down carefully. I shuffled back to lounge into the arm of the couch as Hank gently helped me put my feet up onto the next seat of the couch.

I gave a sigh as I relaxed, getting comfortable.

'Sunflora!' I was greeted by an old looking Sunflora. The sunflower Pokemon with a few wilted petals around the face carried a rustic wooden tray for me with a teapot, a cup and a matching sugar and mini milk jug. 'For me?' I asked as the sun flora held the tray out to me. 'This is June, Ma's Pokemon. She caught June with Dad during their honeymoon since Ma didn't have a Pokemon when she met Dad. June this is my Fiancee Milo.' Hank said by way of introduction as he sat on the edge of the couch at my feet. 'Sun-sun flora!' June cheerfully greeted me again. I smiled and started to make myself a cup to tea. 'It is nice to meet you June, thank you for the tea.' I said as I poured the tea for myself, adding a splash of milk before taking a sip. 'Sunflora!' June sang as she quickly scurried away with the tray.

Clyde walked into the lounge room and went to a glass cabinet in the corner. 'Didn't you say that the news report was on at seven o'clock?' Clyde asked as he took out a remote and pointed it at the TV.


	9. Chapter 9

Black Lightning Chapter 9

'I almost forgot about that!' I remarked as I looked over to Clyde. 'Ma turn the stove off for a moment! Something important is about to be on the news! Janice get in here!' Clyde called them. I hadn't noticed before but his Fearow was perched on one of the arm chairs. I heard Janice give a sharp whistle. Moments later our Pokemon started to come inside from outside and fill out the lounge. Janice flopped onto one of the arm chairs as Clyde turned on the TV and flicked over to the Regional News station. Mrs Williams also entered the room and sat on the arm of the couch that I was leaning against.

It was right on seven o'clock when Clyde flicked over to the correct channel. On the screen was the overdone news anchor. Her purple hair was fluffed up to the max, her outfit was extra sharp and executive in style and her make up was too heavy. She smiled too widely for it to be a natural smile. This made me cringe inside while I watched.

'Good Evening Kanto and Johto! Skye Stiles from your trusted K and J News. I am here live at the Pewter Museum with Chairman Stone! Chairman Stone, you have exciting news for everyone out there! What have you discovered?' Skye asked the Chairman with way to much enthusiasm for it to be real.

The Chairman looked like an old version of Lee. He cleared his throat and smiled. 'Well! We, here at the Pewter Museum have discovered a new fossil Pokemon and with the latest technology have brought it to life!' He announced cheerfully. There was silence in the lounge room while he spoke.

'Can we see this new Pokemon? What are they called?' Skye asked now seeming to be genuinely excited by this. Her genuine curiosity was evident. The producer must have not told her why she was there. 'Of course! I can show you our finest sample!' Chairman Stone announced as he took out an ultra ball. The cameraman zoomed out away from them to show the release of this new Pokemon. 'This is a Zaptor!' Chairman Stone announced.

From the red light formed a seven foot tall raptor like Pokemon. She was a deep yellow colour with tiger like black lightning shaped stripes over her sides and back. She had short plumage around the end of her tail much like the feather placement on an arrow and a black crest like a cockatoo on top of her head. She had two black bands around her muzzle. Her arms were covered in a fine layer of feathers. Primary feathers visible like a short wing from her outer wrist to her elbow. She had long claw tipped fingers on her hands. Her whole body was muscled and her toes had four inch hooked claws on them, designed for grabbing onto prey and slashing them open. Her body appeared to be covered in the same fine down as the Stator. Her eyes were a fierce purple and she let out a ferocious hiss as static started to crackle off her with visible sparks. She gave a threatening cry and jumped at Chairman Stone just as he returned her. He gave a nervous laugh. It looked like she was intent on killing her so called owner.

'Please excuse her manners! She was only newly revived and is yet to be properly trained.' Chairman Stone said with a charming smile. Skye gave a little giggle. 'Oh that is quite alright! Are there any others? Is there anything else that you can tell us about this Zaptor?' Skye asked the Chairman. 'There are more. We will not release exact numbers just yet as our research has just begun. Female Zaptor seem to be Rock and Electric type. The males seem to be Rock and Dark type. We do not know why the two genders have different types yet but we do know that the babies show signs of being Dark and Electric types.' The Chairman announced.

'There are babies! Can you show us one of these little babies?' Skye asked excitedly. 'Of course, my son Doctor Stone is the head researcher in our lab. He has more details and can show you more.' The Chairman said as he stepped back. Lee stepped forward with a charming smile.

'Miss Styles, a pleasure to meet you, and a pleasure to meet you all Kanto and Johto!' Lee greeted Skye and then the cameraman. I clenched my jaw at that. The public would be eating that up. 'Hello Dr Stone! Do you have one of these baby Zaptor to show us?' Skye asked in a pleasant voice. 'Indeed I do. The babies are called Stator and a much more friendly than poor old Zaptor,' Lee said as he took out a poke ball and released a little Stator. The stator was laying on its back, holding a foot and chewing on its toes while it chirped happily. It was a little female. 'Aww!' Skye cooed at the sight. She knelt down to the little Stator to look closer. 'Well everyone watching K and J news! Aren't these the cutest little discovery made recently. Dr Stone how did you find these?' Skye asked Lee not really paying him any attention as she made big eyes at the happy baby Pokemon.

'Well on the expedition we found nests of fossilised eggs. We very carefully got them out of the ground and wrapped each one up like the precious bundles they are. We gave them a light dusting and put them in incubators. After a couple of weeks they hatched. We were quite surprised by how friendly the babies are. We don't yet know if they have an evolutionary stage between this stage and their final adult stage of Zaptor. More research is needed.' Lee said confidently. Skye seemed to not be paying him any attention. 'That is fascinating Dr Stone. How long before someone like me from the general public can get access to one of these little bundles of joy?' Skye asked now looking at Lee and standing up. Lee chuckled and straightened his tie. 'Maybe a few years. I am planning a breeding program for them once they get older. For now we are just focused on finding out as much as possible from them as they are. I assume like many things, they probably will grow up too quickly for everyone in the lab!' Lee said with a laugh.

Skye gave a laugh also before looking at Lee with a serious face. 'Can I be the first in line to sign up for one?' She asked. Her professional pseudo was slipping now. She had her eyes on getting something that no one else had. 'Sure, after the interview I can sign you up.' Lee said with an amused smirk. Skye looked back to the camera with a smile. 'Well Ladies and Gentleman you heard it here first! Call Pewter Museum to place your orders. These little guys will probably go like hotcakes at breakfast time once the breeding program starts!' Skye said with a laugh before Lee cut in. 'One thing before you go Skye!' Lee cut in at the end. 'Certainly but make it quick! We are running out of time.' Skye said with an unsure smile.

'Please, if you see someone in the public with a Stator do not try to steal their Pokemon. The researchers and discovery team are all working on raising some of the Stator in home settings so that the future young will be excellent Pokemon for trainers to raise. Interrupting this process might ruin the future chances of this Pokemon being an excellent competitor for a future champion! We are also accepting donations from those who would like to help support our hard work to helping the world become a better and more informed place.' Lee said in a serious note but ending it on a smile. Skye smiled and nodded before looking at the Camera. 'You heard it right here First Ladies and Gentleman on a K and J exclusive. Goodnight for now! Stay tuned for the weather report from Robert O'Donnel!' Skye said in parting before the station started rolling an add for new bicycles from Goldenrod City.

Clyde turned the TV off. Something didn't sit right with Lee's last words to the public. While I mulled it over with a frown Nugget came over to me and rested his head in my lap. I gently stroked the crest on his head while I thought. Nugget looked up at me with big blue eyes.

'Time to serve dinner!' I heard Mrs William's grumble as she walked away. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. I assumed that no one in this room trusted Lee and they were all just as brooding as I was.

Nugget whistled happily while I stroked the crest on his head repeatedly. I then remembered Janice's question from earlier. 'The Stator are fossil Pokemon. Lee thinks that he owns all of them.' I said before realisation hit me. I looked across to Hank, who was frowning. 'You know… he asked the general public to not steal any of our discovery. He never told any of us to not do such a thing,' I said to Hank. I loved loopholes as much as he did. 'You would steal from your own employer?' Clyde asked in a confused tone. Clyde must have been a fiercely loyal employee of Silph Co, and possibly an employee who fought and worked hard for his position.

'I'm going to put this into perspective for you brother. Milo is from the Banishment world. She was a legal orphan who spent her life being thrown around between people who didn't want her. She had to fight for her whole life. She fought for her title and worked hard for some positive recognition. She became an Archeologist to discover things that others didn't know, but also to get away from people who continuously judged her. She finally makes the break through discovery of her life that could change everything for her but it gets taken away. Not only does it get taken away but her sponsor kidnaps her, takes her to another world and forces her to work for him with no way of getting back. Then that employer takes her one big life changing discovery from her and turns it into a cash cow for himself. If that wasn't bad enough he also compromised her physical well being, possibly permanently, for the rest of her life. Milo became a cripple the night we were kidnapped. She could walk and run perfectly fine before she was brought here against her will.' Hank said in a blunt voice. 'Oh…' Clyde muttered dumbfounded. Clyde looked away awkwardly and dropped the topic.

Janice stood up and looked at me with her hands on her hips. 'I'm in! If the two of you are getting back at Lee then I'm helping. Milo prepare for the platinum all star physiotherapy treatment. I'm going to have you walking so well that you can plant your bad foot so hard into Lee's crotch that you could turn his plumbing inside out. If that isn't enough, I'm also going to help you train your Pokemon to the max! You are going to need an all star champion team to take out the whole Pewter Museum and succeed. They have at least ten Pokemon Champions at their disposal that I know of.' Janice announced with a determined expression.

'Wait, Janice how do you know about the Pokemon Champions that the Pewter Museum has in its employment?' Hank asked her. 'I'm one of them baby brother. Lee didn't blackmail me to be the company Physiotherapist though. He employed me fresh out of University to get me started. He never told me why, but I would bet anything that this was part of his grand plan in bringing you back as his slave or something. I think Milo was a bonus in his grand plan of revenge.' Janice said with a shrug, like it was no big deal.

'If you are going to do this then you are going to need some serious funding and top of the line gear that Lee doesn't know about. I think I can have your back there.' Clyde said with a thoughtful expression on his face before he smirked. 'I just need to not get caught by my team!' Clyde said now suddenly enthusiastic about helping his brother by doing the wrong thing against his company. 'Before that though Milo and I need a secure base where we can go undetected, especially by Pewter Museum. Not only this but it needs to look like a house so Lee just thinks that we are doing the whole newly weds thing of finding a great home to start a family in,' Hank said with a frown as he held up a hand.

'If it was me trying to hide from a clear signal I would go somewhere like route thirty-two, close to the Ruins of Alph and Union caves. I would buy a spot of land and then build something with extra reinforcement, secret exits, a generous laboratory basement and make the house a green roof so it is impossible to spot from above unless you know what to look for.' Janice said with a smirk. I looked at her with my own growing smile. 'How come you have an answer for that?' I asked her. Clyde sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. 'Janice has a secret home that is near unfindable in a lot of regions. She even illegally made herself a house in the side of the Indigo Plateau cliffs overlooking Victory road. The only way in is via a Pokemon who knows teleport, a Pokemon you can dive on through the submerged caves or by flying in on the back of a Pokemon. Or if you are crazy enough, you could rock climb up there to find the hidden entry by accident,' Clyde said with a roll of his eyes.

'The Ruins of Alph could work, especially with Union cave so close. It's the perfect cover for an Archeologist and a Geologist to hide under the guise of starting a family life. Not that Lee won't have us away on field work a lot. Especially with the extra dodgy signals that the ruins emit. I think I like that idea, thanks Janice. What do you think Milo?' Hank asked as he looked at me with a smile. I returned his smile. 'I like the idea. We just need to actually buy a spot in the area and also plan the wedding and the honeymoon.' I said suddenly remembering that I had to do all of that. The thought made me groan. 'I still need to make your ring too!' Hank said with a groan also.

Janice started to laugh. 'It looks like it will be a small wedding then. That isn't the only thing that you need to plan. What are your Pokemon legal carrying limits?' Janice asked us. 'Eight' 'Four' Hank and I answered at the same time. Janice rose an eyebrow at both of us. 'Ok that makes things more difficult for you Hank. You really need to be careful with having a well rounded team until you can increase your limit. Especially since I doubt that you will be specialising in any type, considering the two Pokemon you currently own. Milo you have some more freedom but we will need to drill you on being a Champion Trainer so you can handle Pokemon that will really help you overthrow Lee and Pewter Museum.' Janice said out loud. She seemed to be talking to herself more than to us.

'There is also one other thing to factor in Janice.' I said as I looked at her. 'What is that?' She asked me curiously.

'Hank and I also need Pokemon that will help us in our work at all stages. We need something with excellent eyesight to help Hank determine from a longer distance where the best spots are to search for new findings. Pokemon that can dig without destroying too much land around them to ruin any fossil finds and we will need something that can spin silk that will turn hard so we can protect the new discoveries during transport. Not to mention I am probably going to need to get a Pokemon that I can ride to get me around the really rough terrain. We also need a water type for when we are in the desert, or if we need to cut stone and we don't want our tools to get over heated.' I said to her. 'We still need to work while we are planning on the best way to take down the museum from the inside.' Hank reminded her. Janice sat back down to think this over. Being a well travelled Champion trainer she would know first hand how effective various Pokemon were at certain tasks. Janice opened her mouth to suggest something but was then cut off by her mother's voice.

'Dinner is served! Wash your hands everyone!' Mrs Williams called from the next room. 'Is the poke food out too?' Clyde called as he walked into the next room. 'Milo stay there.' Janice said as she got up. Hank looked at me with a smile. 'Looks like we might be getting somewhere. After dinner we can start looking at real estate.' He said before getting up to go to the next room. The Pokemon in the room started heading out to eat. I stayed on the couch where Janice had told me to stay.

Only Alph stayed in the room with me. I could feel Alph slip into my mind again. 'You are an interesting conundrum.' Alph echoed into my mind. 'Why do you say that?' I asked him quietly. 'If you were a Pokemon you would be considered a dark psychic type. Dark and psychic types do not usually get along.' Alph echoed in my mind again. I looked at him closely while he watched my eyes. He sat on the spot where Hank had been. After a moment he continued. 'You have the personality of a dark type. Ruthless, a fighter who will do anything to fix the things you feel are wrong to right them, even if in others opinions you are doing the wrong thing when everything is right. You also have some psychic traits. I can help you to unlock these to their fullest potential. If you so desired you could easily befriend a psychic Pokemon and build a stronger team than even Janice. Janice has grit but she is no psychic, you could command your whole team with just thoughts and insight if you became sharp enough. I even know a local herd of psychic Pokemon that you could use as a mount in the difficult areas that you have to travel in the future. If you could convince one of them to go with you then it will be a historical first for this area.' Alph echoed the idea and his thoughts into my mind.

In my mind I could see myself for a moment standing near the edge of the Lake of Rage looking at a herd of Girafarig. Girafarig base stats were nothing to brag about and the head on their tail had its own brain and biting personality. Off the top of my head Girafarig couldn't learn teleport but it had some other useful moves. The herd of Girafarig that Alph was showing me in my mind were a large herd. It looked to be about thirty individuals being led by a large male with a broken horn on his head. The herd had stragglers around the edges who looked like they didn't want to be there, mothers with calves and adolescents play fighting each other to get stronger.

'You will see them tomorrow while you are out with Janice. She is going to start you on some hydro therapy to help you get movement back in your knee. Do not attempt to catch any of them tomorrow. Observe only, if any of them approach you or play with Nugget then offer them some of your lunch. Make friends with the herd and gain their trust. If they know you want to capture any of them they will avoid your presence at all costs for the rest of your life.' Alph advised in my mind.

At that moment Janice came in with a bed tray with my dinner on it. I saw Alph nod to Janice and then leave to eat. Janice set the tray on legs over my lap. Hank then came into the room with his own tray followed by Mrs Williams. 'Since you can't sit at the dinner table we are all going to sit here and eat with you.' She announced with a tender smile. 'Thank you,' I said to her with a sad smile of my own. It was a nice feeling, being part of a family that didn't want me to leave. I think I could get used to this.

Dinner went smoothly followed by a homemade dessert. Maple syrup Dumplings with ice-cream. We organised who was sleeping where.

I fell asleep cuddling Nugget at my side. Hank was in the other room with Clyde, Butane, Snuggles and Screechy. Mrs Williams was in her room and Janice had her own room that she shared with all of her Pokemon. Before drifting off I could hear Hank and Clyde talking to each other in the next room, no doubt catching up. I had the best night sleep in my whole stay in this world and despite being a newly hatched baby, Nugget slept soundly through the whole night.


	10. Chapter 10

Black Lightning Chapter 10

The next morning everyone seemed to know what they were doing except for me. We had breakfast at dawn before I found myself suddenly being driven to the Lake of Rage by Clyde. Janice was in the back seat with Nugget.

Hank stayed behind to help his Ma with the morning chores and work on getting Butane and Snuggles some much needed training, after a long time and for the first time. Hank had the beginning of a team and he needed them to work together.

Clyde and Janice were going to the Lake of Rage to feed some of their Pokemon. This was all that they told me. Janice also had a hydrotherapy session planned out but feeding her Pokemon apparently came first.

When we arrived at the lake Clyde got out of the car first, leaving Janice to help me out of the car. Before I got out of the car I heard Clyde call out. 'Come out Splash! Breakfast time!' Clyde threw a poke ball into the air letting it open over the lake. In a flash of red light a Gyrados splashed into the water and then vanished beneath its depths. I could only look on in awe at the size of the Pokemon. I then noticed that Clyde was wearing a special glove. The poke ball that he had thrown returned to his hand. It must have been magnetised or something. Clever.

Clyde then released Screechy. Screechy gave a loud cry before flying up into the air and out of sight past the nearest treeline, possibly to hunt. Clyde then came back to the car to sit on the front of it. 'Well I'm good for the next however long.' He said with a smug voice. It looked like Clyde only owned the two Pokemon that he had caught as a boy. I could kind of understand why. Gyrados was huge and probably ate a lot!

'Good for you!' Janice retorted in a sarcastic voice as she let me lean on her until we got to the edge of the lake's water. Janice had let me borrow a one-piece swimsuit. She helped me out of my pants while shimmering out of her own. Janice clenched her jaw when she saw the scars that wrapped around my knee from Pooch's fangs. I ignored her and pulled my t-shirt off over my head. Janice kept her top on and helped me into the water. 'Clyde be a dear and let all of my Pokemon out,' Janice called over her shoulder to Clyde.

Clyde gave a loud sigh. 'Fine!' He answered as he shrugged off the car to then go into the back seat. Nugget, I now noticed was standing at the edge of the water looking at me curiously and then at the water. 'You drink it Nugget, have a try.' I said to him with a laugh. Nugget leant down to sniff the water before starting to drink. Behind Nugget I saw Clyde releasing Pokemon one at a time.

Poliwrath, Hydreigon, Tropius, Dodrio, Shiny Gyrados, Dustox, Alolan Sandslash, Ampharos, Marshtomp and Metagross. Ten powerful Pokemon that looked like they were all in prime condition. Each of these Pokemon split up and begun whatever it was they were supposed to do, training or hunting for their breakfast. Janice looked like she had been regimental in getting them to the level that they all were. I had a feeling this wasn't all of her Pokemon either. She probably had more of them stashed away in a PC somewhere, or roaming free on one of her many hidden properties.

Nugget went about these other Pokemon curiously once he lost interest in the water. He was only born yesterday after all, he had a lot to learn and I had no doubt that Janice's Pokemon were going to teach him some really good habits.

Janice cleared her throat to get my attention. 'Should we start?' She asked me with a smile. I nodded as she lead me waist deep into the water to begin my exercise routine. After Janice taught me what I needed to do everyday we floated around on the lake to relax.

I learned that the Shiny Gyrados had been named Fish. Fish had created this lake and Janice had caught him shortly after to stop him rampaging his way all the way to the house. She had told me that Fish was her inspiration to become a Champion Trainer. Gyrados was no easy Pokemon to train. Fish gave Janice and myself a ride around the lake in the water in our relaxing time. After time Splash swam with us and Clyde joined in. Fish and Splash were racing against each other around the lake in no time in friendly competition. Fish usually won. Splash was more of a giant companion Pokemon to Clyde than an actual battle machine, like Fish had been trained to be by Janice.

The fun was stopped by a fireball being shot into the sky. Our attention was turned to the shore. In the distance I could see Butane with Hank on his back. Fish and Splash took us over to Hank. All the other Pokemon gathered around him as he dismounted. 'Lunch time!' He called out to us while we approached.

Not far behind Hank, Mrs Williams rode up on a push bike. She had a basket on the front where Sunflora sat with a big smile on her face. Sunflora held a picnic basket.

We all had lunch together on the grass next to the lake. Afterwards Hank took me for a ride on Butane around the Lake for some alone time. Nugget and Snuggles stayed behind with the others. We were riding Butane bareback around the lake. Hank gently tugged the reins to stop Butane. Hank got off before helping me down off the large Rapidash's back. Hank turned Butane loose to graze as he lead me over to a fallen tree to sit.

'How did the first physiotherapy session go?' Hank asked me once we were both sitting next to each other. 'It went well. My knee is feeling less painful and a lot more loose. I think it was a mix of the water helping me to relax and the fun we had after. Work hard play hard. Splash and Fish decided to have a few races against each other. Secretly I think Fish let Splash win a few times so he didn't feel so bad.' I said with a small smile as I looked at Hank. 'Fish has to let Splash win sometimes. Splash is female and Fish is her mate. When breeding season comes around those two make many magikarp babies together. At least they used to. Clyde and Janice used to make a bit of pocket money out of selling the Magikarp to people who gave them as presents to new trainers starting out.' Hank said with a chuckle. 'That makes sense.' I mused as I let my eyes wander to look at the lake. 'Janice must have been pretty young to have caught and bred Fish before you were banished.' I mused quietly. Hank chuckled. 'She was phenomenal. She only had Jeckel and Pearl at the time. Her Doduo and Poliwag, her first two Pokemon and only Pokemon at the time. They both took down Fish' Hank said quietly with a small smile. He seemed to be remembering that day. I could only imagine how epic that would have been to watch.

Hank gave a relaxed hum as we sat in silence. While we daydreamed in silence something came out of the trees and walked towards the lake. It was a large Girafarig with a broken off horn. He walked over to the lake and looked around before taking a drink. While he drank the rest of the herd came out of the trees and lined up on the bank to drink also. I reached across and took Hank's hand while I watched them.

'Did you get a chance to look at the properties for sale along route thirty-two?' I asked Hank quietly. I didn't want to startle the Girafarig. 'Yes I did. There are currently three properties for sale on that route. Two of them are just outside of Azalea town. The other one is on the edge of Violet city. There was a place that is soon to be listed that overlooks the ocean on the Violet city side of Union Cave, half-way to the Ruins of Alph. It's not terribly close to the ruins or the cave but we could always renovate the cottage to give it a basement and hidden tunnels in and out of there. From the pictures it looks like an old fisherman used to own it.' Hank said quietly, he was watching Butane graze. He gave my hand a slight squeeze while we continued to sit next to each other.

'I don't want to rush an important decision like this. We could wait for something better to come along but… I have a feeling that isn't going to happen for a long time and Lee is only going to give us enough time to buy a house, get married and go on a honeymoon. I don't think that he has the patience to let Janice say that I am ok to get back to work. Though with how I feel after today I have a feeling that Janice works quickly and effectively and I will be work ready before the wedding. We don't have the time for perfect, we just need to roll with this punch and make do with our best options.' I voiced my thoughts to Hank. I saw him nod out of the corner of my eye. 'Should we make an offer before it goes on the market?' Hank asked me. 'Maybe call the agent and ask if there are any unlisted properties for sale in the area, we might get lucky.' I said hoping that Hank hadn't thought of that. Hank shook his head. 'That is how I know about the soon to be listed property.' Hank explained. I sighed and then nodded before smiling. 'Lets buy our first home together. With what we have so far I think we might have enough for a deposit, if we don't we can hound Lee for money and get some payslips in advance.' I said. I didn't like the idea of being financially in-debt to Lee but we had to do what we had to do. The sooner we had our own place to settle into the better.

'If we try to get money like that out of Lee he will probably give us conditions like… we have to buy in Pewter so we are close to the Museum, even though we will be working in the field for most of the time.' Hank pointed out with a grimace. I groaned knowing that Hank was right before I rubbed my chin while thinking. 'What if we did both?' I asked Hank. 'What do you mean?' He asked. 'What if we owned multiple properties and we stayed in the one in the region that we are sent to? Like Janice does.' I asked, watching his reaction closely. 'We could do that, but the quickest way to get that kind of dough is to get through the Pokemon league and become a Champion. To do that we need to defeat all the gyms of one region.' Hank said quietly.

'Then we need to start planning out our teams.' I said with a smile. Hank narrowed his eyes at me. 'You are talking about my team aren't you?' He asked me. 'You are the Geologist. You are much better at finding promising sights to explore than I am. For that reason your team is going to be far more important than mine.' I pointed out to him. 'I have two slots left!' Hank said to me as he stood up, let go of my hand and threw his hands in the air. 'Are you trying to limit me now?' He asked me as his voice stated to raise a little. I frowned up at him. 'No! I'm trying to be smart and plan something important. We have a revenge mission too!' I sighed and shook my head. 'Humour me?' I asked him. 'Sure! What Pokemon do you think I should get that would complete my inadequate team?' Hank asked in a dark tone. 'They are not inadequate! Butane is a good riding mount and Snuggles is a great type combination. We have no idea how useful she is going to grow up to be. The are lots of unknowns with her but she is not going to be a weak member of your team.' I snapped at him defensively before sighing. 'Ok, so where is your head at?' Hank asked me as he crossed his arms over his chest. His voice returning to a normal level again.

'Venonat and Mudkip.' I said to him before he could blow a fuse. 'Keep talking.' Hank said in a blunt tone, he didn't look impressed. I knew those two were not his favourite Pokemon and he would have much preferred that I say something like Charmander and Mew. I did my best to ignore is unimpressed expression and continued. 'Mudkip because it is easily available for purchase. Its a starter Pokemon and as we both know it has the highest base stats of a water and ground dual type Pokemon. It also has a move pool that is very handy to both of us for work and otherwise.' I explained. Hank smirked as he watched me. 'What if I decide that I want a wooper or a tympole?' He asked me teasingly. 'Then you need to train harder to make a Champion Pokemon. I thought we were trying to pick based on convenience, economy and overall power?' I asked him with a smirk. 'Ok you make a good point and I do like a strong swampert. Maybe Janice has a hook up.' Hank mused, considering that suggestion for a moment.

'Why Venonat then?' He asked a little amused now and less snappy. 'It has excellent eyesight and a great memory from what I hear. Also the Bug and Poison dual type would really round out your team and cover some of the weakness' of the others. They aren't super common but I think I know where you could get one for… basically nothing. Not even the cost of the poke ball.' I said to him smugly. 'If you are about to suggest an abused one off the dark-net then I'm going to have to decline.' Hank said with narrowed eyes and a slightly angry tone again.

I rolled my eyes at him. 'Ugh! NO! I was thinking the Hidden Village where the unwanted Pokemon are left behind and dumped. There is no guarantee that there will be one there but I've heard rumours and read things, not to mention the anime mentioned it and it was in the manga.' I pointed out to Hank. He tilted his head to the side as he looked at me. 'That might be worth looking into, especially since we are trying to save money right now to buy a place. I also had something I wanted to talk to you about in regards to planning the wedding.' Hank said to me a little nervously.

'Sure what is it?' I asked looking at him closely. 'I don't have the tools here to cut and polish the gemstone that I got from where I proposed to you that night. I might have to make a trip to somewhere that has the right tools for me to make your ring.' Hank said as he looked at me with a sheepish smile. I could feel my cheeks burn a little before I made myself focus on the task at hand. 'That might be a very practical idea. I could organise the dress and everything else while you were away. I assume we are having the wedding here somewhere away from the general public, something small?' I asked Hank. Hank smiled a little. 'I'm sure Ma would love to have the wedding at our house, the reception any way. We could have the ceremony here on the lake. I'm perfectly fine with a small wedding. It's the honeymoon destination that I'm not sure you will agree on.' Hank said with a snicker.

'Oh? Where did you have in mind?' I asked him curiously. 'Alolah, mostly for the volcanoes and the chance to find a Pokemon that could be useful for you. I hear there is a ground type there that could be a good mount for you to ride,' Hank hinted. I chuckled a little at that. 'Alolah sounds like it could be fun. We could find fossils on the volcanoes, though I highly doubt it. We are more likely to just find a lot a pretty and oddly shaped stones around there.' I smirked at him a little. 'Good I don't need to twist your arm.' Hank smiled triumphantly. I could see he had an ulterior motive for wanting to go to Alolah but I didn't mind in the slightest. I enjoyed seeing him getting excited about pretty stones. I secretly enjoyed geology too.

'Speaking of mount Pokemon…' I said to Hank before trailing off and looking pointedly at the herd of Girafarig. 'Are you serious?' Hank asked looking at the Girafarig and then back to me.

'Alph predicted it last night.' I said to Hank quietly. 'That has never happened ever! That big one with the broken horn is a mean one! The locals and everyone else call him Mr Angry! He is infamous beyond this region. He doesn't let anyone near the herd. Besides they are Psychic types. Not exactly beginner material.' Hank whispered to me in a rushed voice.

I saw something at that moment that Alph had predicted. Nugget had slipped away from the others and followed us around the Lake. He found the herd of Girafarig before finding us. He chirped happily thinking that he had found new friends.

I let him go and do his own thing but watched closely. When Hank heard the chirp and saw me look around him he spun around to see what was going on. The Large Girafarig came up to him with a loud snort, stamping his feet. Butane looked up from where he was and watched closely. I could see Butane tense up just in case he needed to save the baby Pokemon.

Nugget saw the threat and stood up as tall as he could without falling over. Nugget didn't back down, he stood his ground and got ready. Before he could do anything though, three of the mother Girafarig stepped between Nugget and the large bull. Their motherly instincts must have kicked in. Their babies followed close behind them to shield little Nugget from the threatening bull. With the mother Girafarig blocking the way Nugget relaxed and chirped playfully at one of the youngsters. The calf responded with a happy bleat and jumped up before trotting around Nugget. The other youngsters joined in and they all started to play together. 'Oh… I see how it could work now…' Hank muttered before he sat next to me again.

This time Hank reached across to hold my hand while we watched.

When the bull saw Nugget playing harmlessly with the calves he lost interest and turned away. The mothers moved near the playing group to watch them while they grazed. Butane also relaxed and went back to grazing himself. Nugget didn't let him graze for long though. Nugget ran over to Butane to chirp at him and get him to join in the fun. By that time some of the adolescent Girafarig had joined in the shenanigans of what seemed to be a game of tag. I smiled while I watched them play.

I couldn't help but notice that Butane and one of the girafarig were playing with each other among the rest of the group rather than with the rest of the group.

After a while Nugget saw Hank and I in the distance and he ran over to greet us. I gave his head a pat 'Stator!' He whistled to me before running back to the Girafarig. It was then that the herd saw Hank and I. The mothers and the large bull looked as us wearily. The large bull came over to us to inspect us. 'Hank do you have any food in your bag?' I asked him quietly.

Hank let go of my hand and started to dig into his bag. He pulled out a peanut butter sandwich. He ripped the sandwich in half and handed me half. I struggled up to my feet to hold the sandwich up to the large bull. He leant forward and sniffed at the sandwich before taking it out of my hand and eating it. He made a happy sound and looked at Hank expectantly. It looked like the Girafarig hadn't been treated very nicely by the locals. Hank smiled and relaxed and held up the sandwich for the large Girafarig with the broken horn. 'Here you are Mr Angry.' Hank said while the Girafarig ate. He accepted the food and the name before walking away, satisfied that we were not a threat to his herd.

After that Hank and I were surrounded by the herd of Girafarig all looking at us curiously. Some of them started to go through Hank's backpack, one of them trying to eat the handle on it. 'Oh! That isn't food!' I said as I laughed. I gently took the backpack out of the Girafarig's mouth. It then proceeded to sniff at my face before starting to nibble on my hair, more like they were exploring what I was than actually trying to eat me. I imagine that they didn't come across many people.

While we were surrounded by curious Girafarig I noticed something from the corner of my eye. Butane and the playful female from before were acting awfully close. They were nuzzling at each other like they were mates. 'Hank look at Butane.' I whispered to Hank. Hank looked at Butane and then smirked. 'She must be in heat…' Hank whispered back. 'Or they are old friends!' I whispered back. 'Both.' Hank whispered to me with a knowing smirk.

We were not the only ones who noticed. The bull Girafarig cried out angrily and charged at Butane. 'Butane!' Hank called out in a serious tone. Butane flattened his ears and moved to get between the cow and the charging bull. He started with flamethrower but was countered with a psychic attack as the bull started to double team.

'Nugget come here!' I called for Nugget. Butane started up a fire wheel as he charged between the double teaming Girafarig bull. The Girafarig used confusion to try and confuse Butane.

Nugget didn't listen to me, instead he copied the bull Girafarig. Nugget looked like he was excited by this sudden battle, especially since his big brother Butane was involved. Nugget chased after Mr Angry and before I knew it he used double team and chased after the illusions. His little teeth were glowing, and he bit each of the illusions until he bit the heels of the bull. One of Janice's Pokemon must have taught him bite.

'Butane stomp!' Hank called out. The bull kicked sending Nugget flying. Nugget was kicked into the lake. Before I could start to worry about if he could swim Screechy swooped down and pulled him from the water to put him down safely on the bank.

Screechy must have been keeping an eye on nugget from above. Looks like Clyde was taking me seriously now and a new family member. I didn't have time to think about it though.

Butane charged at the bull, knocking him back with a headbutt before stomping on his chest with a neigh that was more like a roar. The bull threw Butane back with a psychic attack before following up with a psybeam. Butane went skidding along the ground on his side before he got back up.

Before the bull could get up again Nugget was on him and biting on the head on his tail with glowing teeth. The head went limp and lifeless as the bull got to his feet again and started to buck. Nugget bit down at his flanks and held on for dear life with his four short limbs. I couldn't help but feel proud of the little raptor, taking on a Pokemon much older and stronger than himself. Nugget's baby bite attacks were not particularly powerful but still super effective against Mr Angry and were starting to wear him down. As each second passed Mr Angry's bucking got weaker and slower while Nugget held on.

'Fire headbutt!' Hank called out to Butane. Butane snorted as fire started to spin around him and he charged at the bull. Butane had gotten back up to his hooves while Nugget was keeping Mr Angry occupied. 'Nugget! Jump off! Get out of the way!' I called out to Nugget. He let go and let himself get bucked off. Screechy caught Nugget in the air and put him down safely. Butane charged at the still bucking bull and knocked him over and burned him. Butane held the bull down on the ground with his front hooves and snorted in his face.

While Butane had the bull pinned the Girafarig that Butane had gotten snuggly with also stood over the bull and bleated in his face. The bull gave a grumble and stayed down. Butane backed away with his new mate and let the bull get up. The bull Girafarig got to his feet and called out to the herd. He walked away with a limp and fainted tail, the herd following him except for the Girafarig that stood next to Butane.

I looked at the Girafarig a little surprised. Alph had predicted it, but it hadn't taken days, just Butane. The Girafarig came over to me and started to sniff over my body and then over Hank's body. She found Butane's ball and pressed the button with her nose. Butane turned into a flash of red light and was returned. The Girafarig looked at the ball a little surprised. Was she trying to catch herself? I tried my best to focus on her thoughts. At this she looked at me suddenly and looked into my eyes.

'Would you like to come with us?' I asked her. The herd had already gone out of sight and vanished back into the forest. 'Yes…' I heard a soft voice in my head. I smiled and reached out to her. She leant forward and touched her nose to my hand. I could hear her thoughts much clearer now that we were touching. 'I'm Milo,' I thought to her. She gave a little bleat and closed her eyes happily. 'I am Odd!' She echoed into my mind. 'Odd?' I asked her out loud. 'Yes Odd is my name!' She echoed to me. 'Huh… cool…' I muttered out loud again. 'Odd? What is cool?' Hank asked with a confused look on his face.

I giggled before looking at Hank and taking my hand off Odd's nose. 'Hank this is Odd. She wants to come with us. She told me that was her name.' I said to Hank. Odd gave a greeting bleat. 'Nugget come and meet your new team mate Odd. Odd this is Nugget.' I said as I introduced the two of them. Odd leant down to sniff at Nugget as Nugget reached up to sniff at her. 'Odd, Nugget hatched yesterday, he is only a baby.' I said to her. Odd gave me a knowing glance. 'Oh… right… well I guess we should get back and get ready for dinner?' I asked looking around at everyone.

'Yeah. We need to get Odd introduced to the rest of the family now that she wants to be with us… mostly Butane but she clearly knows to be with him she has to be with us too.' Hank said as he got his backpack and zipped it up. A cheeky grin was playing at his lips. Butane came over to me and stood so I was facing his shoulder. I grabbed onto his back to pull myself up but was lifted by something else instead. I levitated up to then move over to Odd's back.

When I sat on Odd's back I had to shift myself so I wasn't on her spikes, only to find that the pink bits over her back and up her neck that looked like spikes were actually hair. Not spikes at all. I got comfortable on Odd's back. My mind also seemed to connect to hers while I sat on her back.

She started walking ahead of Butane. Nugget chirped and walked next to Odd happily. Hank mounted Butane as he started to whiney and snort to hurry Hank up. Butane trotted up to be alongside Odd and walked with her. I smiled at Hank while we rode. 'What a day huh?' I asked Hank with a smile. Hank smiled back at me. 'What a day…' He trailed off at the end.


	11. Chapter 11

Black Lightning Chapter 11

Clyde and Janice waited at the car for Hank and I. Both of them looked at me in shock. Janice recovered from the shock first and smiled before clapping. Clyde just stared completely dumbfounded.

'Janice, Clyde this is Odd. She is Butane's new mate. She wants to live with us now.' I said to them both. Janice only smirked. 'Oh Odd has been Butane's mate for a long time.' Janice said before chuckling. 'Who's ball is she caught with?' Clyde asked as he started to recover from his shock. 'She hasn't been caught in a ball. She came of her own free will, she even made me ride her back on the way back here.' I replied to Clyde. Clyde gave me an odd expression, like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. 'You are going to catch so many rare Pokemon in the safari zone when I take you there for hens night!' Janice said to me with a proud grin. Hank could only laugh. 'We are doing my hens night at the Safari Zone?' I asked Janice, actually feeling excited about it. I leant forward a little in anticipation as I felt myself smile.

'See you at home Clyde, we are riding home!' Hank said before Janice could answer me. He clapped his heels on Butane's sides. Butane gave a teasing nicker and started galloping away. Odd bleated at him and ran after him, accepting the challenge to a race. If Butane was serious Odd would never have caught up, at least that is what I thought. Odd used double team to catch up to Butane and then pass him. Amazingly Nugget managed to keep up with Odd while she ran. I looked back and noticed that Nugget was also using double team. Odd read into my mind to know which way the house was to get home. Butane nickered at us from behind as he used quick attack to try and catch up.

Odd skidded to a stop at the front of the house. Nugget bumped into her from behind. They both panted as Butane caught up, and skidded to a stop. Alph was there waiting for us with Kyuubi.

'Welcome Odd!' Alph greeted her out loud. Odd bleated to him in greeting. 'I will teach her how to voice her thoughts externally.' Alph echoed as he looked at me. 'Thank you Alph.' I thanked him with a smile. Alph gave me a nod while Kyuubi purred. I looked down to see Nugget licking Kyuubi's face happily. Old Kyuubi took the affection with a lot of patience, seeming to enjoy the attention.

'Ma! Come out here! We have a surprise!' Hank called out. 'What is it?' Mrs Williams called out from inside the house. She came out with a frown before looking at me shocked. 'A Lake of Rage Girafarig? Milo how did you catch her?' She asked me coming over. 'Oh… I didn't. She is Butane's mate. She asked to live with us. This is Odd. Odd meet Butane's umm… grandmother?' I asked looking at Mrs Williams. 'Iris! Iris or Mrs Williams. Take your pick!' She said with a wave of her hand. Hank dismounted off of Butane. 'Got a blank poke ball Ma? Lee didn't give us any and we haven't had the chance to go shopping.' Hank asked her. 'I think I have just the ball for this occasion!' She said with a smile before rushing back inside. I stayed on Odd's back while we waited.

When Hank's mother came back Odd used psychic to get me off of her back. I was carefully set down on my feet again.

Mrs Williams put a strange poke ball into my hand. I looked at it closely since it had a different feel to Nugget's ball. It looked and felt like it was made out of a large walnut shell. It was pale like a pistachio nut shell. 'This is a handmade poke ball from Azalea Town. It is made from a nut called an apricorn. It is unregistered. I was saving it for a special occasion. Consider this a wedding gift from me.' She said with a smile as I looked at the ball. I smiled at her. 'Thank you!' I thanked her before looking at Odd.

I held the ball up too Odd. 'Odd I am going to marry Hank soon and I will be with him always. If you are mine then you will always be with Butane too. Will you be my second Pokemon?' I asked her with a smile.

Odd made no sound. She touched her nose to the button on the front of the hand made poke ball. She turned into a red light and got caught. The ball didn't even shake. It clicked and the button turned green. She was caught. I instantly released her to let her out again. Odd spun around happily before going over to Butane to nuzzle him excitedly. Butane returned her nuzzles before the two of them ran off into the trees together for alone time.

'What is their egg growth rate again?' I asked no one in particular as I watched both of them run off knowing that they would be back before sunset for dinner. Hank and his mother just laughed. Mrs Williams went in the house as Hank walked up to me. He picked me up bridal style and carried me inside and set me down on the couch again.

'You didn't have to carry me you know!' I protested as he put me down. 'Why not? I need to practice for the big day!' Hank teased with a smirk. I didn't know how to respond to that. I blinked a few times before laughing. 'Ok, fair point. You have me there.' I said by way of admitting defeat. Hank grinned and sat next to me before calling out. 'Hey Ma!' He yelled. 'What?' She yelled back. Hank gave me a cheeky smile, his single dimple showing before he winked. 'Can we have the wedding reception here?' He asked yelling out. There was silence before I heard stomping getting closer.

'What did you just ask?' Mrs Williams asked him as she hurried into the room. 'Can we have the Wedding reception here?' Hank asked her again. 'Hank Williams! If you are pranking your mother I swear, poor Milo will become a widow before she is even married!' She threatened him, waving a sud filled dish brush in his direction.

'It is not a prank, we are both quite serious. We were thinking of having the wedding ceremony at the Lake of Rage. We just need a location for the reception… and possibly a celebrant.' I mused. 'I have the celebrant covered. You don't need to worry about that.' Hank said confidently. I shrugged, trusting Hank on that front. 'Yes you can have the reception here! Good grief boy! Just tell me when and I will start cooking up a storm with old June!' Mrs Williams said with an exasperated tone.

'Thanks Ma!' Hank said with a cheeky grin as he got up and hugged her. 'You are the best!' He said to her. 'I know! I know! How many are coming?' She asked him. That brought us back a bit. 'Well family, the preacher and maybe Nurse Mel. If we don't invite her it will be catastrophic and the wailing will be heard far beyond her grave.' Hank said with a teasing tone as he smirked at me. 'I am happy for Nurse Mel to come.' I agreed with Hank before looking at him questionably. 'What about Belinda?' I asked. Hank smirked as he looked at me. 'She is the celebrant. As soon as Janice gives the all clear Belinda is going to let me know when her soonest day off is so we can get the party started.' Hank said to me. Possibly destroying his surprise, but I was happy he did.

'So you will have nine people plus oodles of Pokemon? Because Janice has a lot of Pokemon, even more now that breeding season for most Pokemon has just been.' Mrs Williams explained. I did a quick count on my fingers before nodding. 'Yes nine people and… I guess we might need a Pokemon headcount?' I asked looking at Hank. Something told me that the Pokemon count would increase between now and later. 'Yes, for now.' Hank agreed. 'Then I will work on the perfect dinner menu for everyone. I must get started!' Mrs Williams said before rushing off.

At that moment Janice and Clyde returned. They came in followed by the Pokemon that were small enough to fit in the house. Janice and Clyde flopped onto the armchairs. 'You look like you trained hard today after the Rage Lake races.' I observed with a chuckle. 'Everyday. We will do that again tomorrow and the day after and the day after until you are well again. At least I will. Clyde will have to keep Mandy and Cecilia happy when they get here.' Janice said as she looked across to me before she smiled widely. 'You also have the beginnings of a team too, so we can really do something with that once your knee improves more.' Janice announced. 'That's good sis because Nugget is an awesome little battler. He took on Mr Angry today with no fear for his own life.' Hank said with as much pride in his voice than I felt for the little raptor. Janice looked surprised before she smiled widely. 'Milo if you ever breed him… please.. please let me have one of his babies!' Janice begged. I could only laugh. 'Get me a ditto then if you want a Stator otherwise the baby will be whatever the mother is. Speaking of breeding though, do you know anyone selling mudkip?' I asked her.

Janice sat up and looked at me. 'I am. I had a clutch of three this year, did you want a swampert for your work?' Janice asked as she looked at me curiously. 'Actually Janice she was asking on my behalf. I've decided on the last two slots of my team until I can expand it again another two slots. Mudkip and venonat. I was looking to source the mudkip from a breeder and the venonat from the hidden village since there is a possibility of a free one there.' Hank said as he looked at Janice. Janice smirked at Hank. 'How about I give you my best mudkip of the season as a wedding present and leave you hanging to find a venonat?' Janice asked. 'Sounds great!' Hank said with a smirk.

'You could check the local classifieds for the unwanted venonat or even advertise that you are looking for one. Venonat is one of those Pokemon that people think are cute so they get one without realising that it is poisonous. Then they end up dumping it or palming it off to the next unknowing sucker who didn't do their research. You could possibly end up with scores of them. I always see advertisements for them. Venonat free to good home. The same is said for really common Pokemon like Rattata, pidgey, spearow, sentret, caterpie, weedle, spinerack, hoot hoot. You could get a whole common team just from what people are throwing away.' Clyde suggested to us. 'How do you know this Clyde?' I asked looking at him curiously. Clyde only gave a nervous laugh. 'Because every week when the paper gets delivered Cecilia looks and tries to get me to get her a pet Pokemon just for her. She isn't ten yet, she isn't legally allowed to own one. Mandy is happy to only have Cubchoo and I have my two Pokemon, one of them eats a lot of my salary just on her own. We don't really want an extra Pokemon just yet that we will have to try and squeeze into our apartment.' Clyde explained. I could only shrug at that. 'Fair enough.' I remarked before looking at Hank.

Hank was grinning. 'Maybe my favourite little niece will help me pick a venonat from the classifieds. She can name it and when she turns ten that can be on her first team. Maybe after that she will stop asking you about it Clyde.' Hank said with a grin. 'Sounds like a plan brother, I just hope it works. I hate being the bad guy and saying no every week. She is persistent.' Clyde said in a tired voice. He looked drained just thinking about it.

'Clyde I have a favour to ask.' Hank suddenly piped up to change the topic. 'What is it?' Clyde asked looking at him with tired eyes. 'Does Silph Co have a rock cutting lab? I have a gem that I need to cut and polish and I don't have the tools to do it.' Hank asked with a sheepish smile. Clyde thought in silence for a moment while he stroked his goatee beard. 'Not that I can sneak you into but I think the local jeweller here has all of that gear. Why don't you ask to loan it for a fee?' Clyde asked as he looked at Hank. Hank tilted his head to the side while he thought about it. 'That is a good idea.' Hank mused.

'Anything else?' Clyde asked. Hank looked thoughtful a moment before he started to snicker. 'Yeah!' He chortled and leant back into the couch looking at me sideways with a smirk. 'What is it?' Clyde asked. 'We need to borrow Mandy and her super shopping skills to get Milo a dress. A super hot dress! Actually just any dress. I've never seen her in a dress before so this ought to be good.' Hank said with a smirk enjoying this. I groaned and rolled my eyes. 'Really? It has to be hot? Can't it just be like a comfortable potato sack or something? You've already seen me in your sister's swimwear.' I said with a pout.

'It has to be HOT! My gosh Milo! I want to get you a makeover and a dress so hot that Hank will have a nosebleed and faint at the altar!' Janice cut in, leaning forward on her seat. The thought of Hank fainting because of something silly like me wearing a dress made me chuckle. 'You know seeing Hank with a nose bleed and passing out might be fun…' I said in a teasing dark tone as I looked at Hank. Hank smirked back at me with challenge glinting in his eyes. 'You are stunning when you clean up Milo but I'm not the kind of man to just have a nose bleed because you look better than normal.' Hank said bluntly.

'CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!' Janice shouted at the top of her lungs, standing up and pointing at Hank. 'Loser gets Cecilia a Pokemon of her choice!' Hank said standing up and facing Janice. 'Deal!' Janice snapped and spat in her hand before holding it out. 'Wait!' Clyde called out suddenly realising what was happening. 'Deal!' Hank said quickly, spitting into his hand and shaking with Janice before Clyde could tackle them both to the floor. 'NO!' Clyde yelled as he tackled them both to the floor. There was a cheer from the watching Pokemon.

'Who is rough housing in here?' Came Mrs Williams' voice. She poked her head into the room to see Clyde holding down Janice and Hank. 'No! No! No! Take it back!' He pleaded with them. Janice and Hank both laughed. 'Nope! Can't do that! We like to spoil Cecilia!' Janice giggled as she wriggled out from under Clyde and got to her feet again.

'Milo! When Mandy and Cecilia get here we are going to plan your hens night at the Kanto Safari Zone!' Janice announced as she skipped away from Hank and Clyde who were now wrestling on the floor.

Mrs Williams threw her soapy dish brush at the two wrestling men who were rolling around on the floor. 'You two! Get up before I have Alph throw you out!' She threatened. The two quickly separated and pointed at each other 'He started it!' They both said at the same time. I giggled as I watched them. Hank gave me a cheeky wink as his mother just sighed and rolled her eyes before going back to the kitchen without her dish brush. 'So if I get an ultra cool Hens party at the Safari Zone… Where is the Bucks night going to be?' I asked as I looked at Hank and Clyde.

'It's a secret!' Clyde said with a smug grin. 'Hey! I want to know where my Bucks night will be while Janice is catching Cecilia a heap of Pokemon in the Safari Zone!' Hank whined with a playful pout. 'No one is catching Cecilia a heap of extra Pokemon! She isn't legal yet! And I want to be there with her to catch her first Pokemon like Dad did for us!' Clyde said with a frown and a pout, crossing his arms over his chest while he sat on the floor.

'Sheesh Clyde we were only messing with you!' Janice said with rolled eyes and a sigh. 'My main focus right now is Milo!' She continued on with a dark smirk. I knew that smirk. Hank smirked like that when he was on a mission to do something. I gave a shiver before looking at Hank. Hank smirked at me with that same smirk. 'Yes we need to focus on filling up Milo's team. She needs a team player with String Shot, something that can learn dig and something that can scare the brass buttons off of Lee.' Hank said with a dark voice. 'An aerial hunter might come in handy too for navigation in new areas.' I mused quietly. 'Ooh! I know just the thing! Clyde when is Mandy and Cecilia due to come here?' Janice asked as she looked at Clyde.

Clyde narrowed his eyes at Janice suspiciously before answering. 'They are due here in two days.' He said cautiously. 'What time are they leaving Goldenrod?' Janice asked. 'Some time after Cecilia finishes class. Some time after three.' Clyde answered again growing suspicious.

'Good! Milo we are going on a road trip and you are entering the bug catching contest. We are going to hunt for something very special for you in that contest that only shows up once a blue moon.' She said as she rubbed her hands together. 'Janice what are you thinking and why do you think we will get lucky?' I asked looking at her. 'I'm thinking something that is near the end of its breeding season now, and they are the perfect aerial hunter. Not to mention the champion status you could get from that type combination.' Janice said with a secretive and smug smile. She seemed to be enjoying keeping me guessing.

Clyde seemed to be contemplating something before he looked at Janice with wide eyes. 'Are you going after a Yanma?' He asked. 'Yep! If Milo can catch a Lake of Rage Girafarig she can get lucky and catch a Yanma!' Janice said confidently. 'Aren't they super rare?' I asked looking at Janice. 'Yes they are and she has been trying to get one for breeding for years.' Clyde said with a frown. 'Yes but I don't have ANY psychic type Pokemon. Odd could find them in the contest grounds and Milo and I could get lucky. Heck if I get Mandy to join in too to increase our chances of catching at least one then that would be great!' Janice continued. Obviously she had her motives for wanting to join the bug catching contest. 'But isn't the idea to catch the strongest bug Pokemon that you can find? Not the rarest one?' I asked looking at her closely. 'Oh I don't care about winning the contest I just want that Yanma breeding stock! Rare Pokemon fetch a high price to rich people with kids just starting out as Pokemon trainers. Mama need that dough and a big strong Yanmega!' Janice said with a wide smile.

I couldn't help but laugh. Hank started to laugh too while Clyde groaned and shook his head. 'Alright, but if I catch it I'm keeping it. Your best bet if you don't catch one is if Mandy catches one.' I said to her with a laugh. Janice beamed. 'We are going? We are doing this?' She asked me excitedly. 'Yeah! Let's do it. It sounds like fun!' I said with a chuckle. Clyde facepalmed while Hank laughed harder.

'I hope you come back alive. Janice isn't half assed with her fighting and catching of innocent wild Pokemon.' Hank warned me with a weary smile. I smiled and shrugged in his direction. 'What if we all entered the bug catching contest to see who could catch a Yanma?' Hank offered. He wore the type of smile he wore when he knew I was headed into a bad situation and he wanted to be there to protect me. 'Oh! YES!' Janice said excitedly.

'Want a spoiler?' Alph asked, echoing his thoughts out loud. 'Yes!' I said. 'NO!' Everyone else yelled at once. They all looked at me like I had betrayed them. I only shrugged. 'Never say yes! It's a trap!' Hank said to me quickly. 'He tells you the possibility that won't happen if he tells you!' Clyde cut in before Janice spoke over him. 'Quick change your answer to no!' Janice said. I shrugged. 'Sorry guys. No take backs.' I said with a smile.

'Alakazam!' Alph said before seeming to laugh. 'The majority have voted No. Sorry Milo you get no answers today!' Alph echoed outside of his mind before he walked back to the kitchen.

After Alph left the room Janice beamed at all of us. 'So are we doing a family outing together in the bug catching contest?' Janice asked with a cheeky smile. 'I'm in!' I said with a smirk. 'Me too!' Hank chimed in. We all smirked looking at Clyde. He sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. 'Fine! I'm in!' He groaned.

'Hey Ma! We want to do a picnic at the bug catching contest with the whole family. Everyone else is going! Would you like to come?' Janice called out. 'What day?' Mrs Williams called out. 'The day Mandy and Cecilia are due to come here. We want to go to meet them at the National park before they get here!' Janice called back. 'Good! I'm coming too!' Mrs Williams called back. I couldn't help but smile, my first family outing. I was looking forward to this.


	12. Chapter 12

Black Lightning Chapter 12

It was that moment when Janice's PokeGear started to ring. She rushed over to her back pack and took it out opening it up and answering it at the same time. 'Hello?' Janice asked with a smile. He face changed in a second from happy too angry. 'No Lee she is not ready to go back to work. She will need another four to five weeks at least.' Janice said in a blunt tone. 'I'm not being unreasonable Lee. I saw her file. Her kneecap was obliterated into a fine dust. Even with healings from an experienced Chansey these things take time. She has soft tissue damage from the bone splinters. These things TAKE TIME.' Janice said bluntly with a firm voice of authority.

Janice gave a sharp huff as she started to tap her foot on the floor while she listened to Lee. 'Lee if you don't shut the hell up about my soon-to-be-sister-in-law I will turn her lose against Pooch again so he can lose the other eye!' Janice growled down into the PokeGear. 'Then fire me! You won't find any other physiotherapist willing to work with someone who is from the banishment world and I can bet my kidneys that if you fire me Hank and Milo will both quit!' Janice growled at him with gritted teeth. I couldn't help but smirk and applaud her.

Janice held her hand up to me to try and silence my clapping. 'You bet I'm not fired. I'm the professional here and it is in your best interest that you wait for my green light for your long term investment.' Janice said in a blunt tone. I watched her curiously.

'Hello Mr Chairman!' Janice said in a suddenly cheery voice. Janice had a strong expression while she listened. 'Mr Chairman you always told me that the quality of life for the Pewter Museum employees should be top quality. Lee compromised the life quality of my new patient. For this mistake of Lee's, he now has to pay by waiting for your new employee to heal properly so she can have her top quality life back. If she goes back to work now with her knee the way it is she will never heal and she will spend the rest of her life as a lame cripple. Pewter Museum has no use for a lame Archeologist and I am sure that you would rather not waste your money on a court case for Lee's mistake. Lee used Pooch to attack Dr Smith while he was on YOUR TIME. Lee was acting as a representative of the Pewter Museum when he attacked Dr Smith. I'm sure that I don't need to tell you how badly that reflects on the Museum. I strongly recommend that you ask Lee to back the hell off and let me do my job properly so the company can have their hard working employee back at full capacity.' Janice said in a firm voice. 'No Mr Chairman. She is planning her wedding right now. She is marrying my brother as soon as she is fully healed.' Janice said in a softer tone this time.

While Janice listened she slowly started to smile a tight and bitter smile. 'I'm sorry, I can't answer that question sir. Would you like to speak to the bride?' Janice asked as she gave me a wink. I felt surprised and unsure of how to react to that. 'Here she is Mr Chairman. Lovely to speak to you again!' Janice said by way of passing greeting as she pulled a face of disgust. Janice handed me the PokeGear with a grin and whispered to me. 'Play up the pain, the Chairman is a sucker for a suffering woman. He will probably give you as long as you want in recovery time and you could probably get a raise right now if you wanted.' Janice sneakily whispered to me with a smile. I hummed in thought before putting the PokeGear up to my ear.

'Doctor Milo Smith…' I said uncertainly into the PokeGear. A cheery and sickly sweet male voice came through the PokeGear, the same voice that was on the TV the night before. 'Dr Smith! A pleasure to finally meet the genius who found our new Pokemon! How are you?' The Chairman greeted me and then asked. 'I am in a lot of pain and it is very difficult to walk now, but I am excited about my wedding coming up. I can't wait until I can walk again so I can walk down the aisle.' I said in a sad voice trying to sound positive through the pain that I was trying to make sound much much worse. 'Dr Smith I am so sorry to hear about your pain. Might I ask you a favour?' He asked me curiously. 'What would you like? I can't walk so maybe don't ask me for anything physical.' I said sheepishly. I could hear the Chairman laugh.

'No nothing physical Dr Smith. As a gesture of good will to try and make up for my son's foolish anger issues I would like you to let me pay for the wedding and because I love a good party I would rather like to attend to meet you in person!' The Chairman said like he was delivering the best news to me ever. I looked at Hank with wide eyes and then looked at the doorway to see Alph looking at me. I mouthed to Alph to let Hank eavesdrop on the phone call through his psychic abilities.

I knew when Hank was caught up to speed because he looked at me shocked. 'Umm… Mr Chairman I don't know what to say. I… We.. We haven't set a date yet and we have asked your PA Belinda to be our celebrant. If you both aren't at the museum I don't want to be a burden to you and cause any difficulties.' I said without thinking, too surprised to really control my words. 'Oh I can leave the Museum to someone else for the day! Please I insist, let me pay for it.' He said to me in a very charming tone. 'Sir, there really isn't much to pay for. We are having the ceremony on the banks of the Lake of Rage and the Reception is going to be at The William's residence on route forty-three. I can ask for something instead of your financial aid at the wedding. I would like to receive sick leave for myself and my future husband while I am getting better so that I can help my new husband to put a deposit on a house.' I said to the Chairman over the phone.

'I can have that arranged Dr Smith. I would still very much like to attend the wedding if you are not opposed to it?' The Chairman asked. I looked at Hank not sure of what to do. Hank shrugged, also uncertain.

'I… I will send you an invitation when we set a date Mr Chairman.' I said trying to keep the defeat out of my voice. 'Excellent! I will bring Lee also and some of your fine discovery to really make it a celebration. I want to see the difference first hand between a lab raised Stator and a house raised Stator!' The Chairman said with a lot of excitement. Before I could respond the Chairman continued to talk. 'Now I am curious Dr Smith. Where are you looking to buy?' He asked me.

'Tell him the truth.' Alph echoed to me in my mind. 'Well there is a soon to be listed property that Hank and I want to make an offer on before it goes on the market.' I said to the Chairman. 'Lovely! Where is it? I love a good property purchase!' The Chairman chimed up. He sounded like he was having fun talking to me about real estate. I could almost hear the dollar signs in his eyes and the dripping greed in his voice.

'It is on the beach on route thirty-two right between the Ruins of Alph and Union Caves.' I said with an excited voice. I didn't have to pretend to be excited, I liked the location now that I had thought about it. 'So far from Pewter City? Why so far from Pewter City?' The Chairman asked in almost a whimper. 'Because it is close to the Ruins of Alph and Union Caves are close. As an Archeologist who can read the hieroglyphs there it is an exciting place to live. Also it is ideal for Dr Williams because he is a Geologist. It gives him a chance to make some new discoveries for the museum too!' I said to him happily.

I heard the Chairman gasp on the other side. 'You can read the hieroglyphs from the Ruins of Alph? You understand them?' He asked me in a delighted voice. 'Yes sir. I can understand the hieroglyphs of the Ruins of Alph. I could translate the whole of the ruins if you wanted me to.' I said calmly. 'You must get that house AND an apartment in Pewter City and get properties in a few other regions! If you can read and understand the Alph Ruins hieroglyphs then you can translate scores of other sites for our research and find us more fossils and countless many other things! I am going to be sending you to many places to make great discoveries! I want you living at ALL the best archeological and Geological sights. It's going to be a difficult task for me to decide where to send you first!' The Chairman announced to me proudly.

'Umm thank you?' I asked not sure of how to respond. 'Don't thank me yet young miss. You get better! You and Dr Williams are invaluable to the Museum. You must make a full recovery. Take all the time you need. I will cover all of your medical bills and if you have any requests for anything to make your job easier please let me know! It is people like you that I like to throw money at to get priceless long term results for maximum profit increase!' The chairman said in a pleasant voice.

I could only think of the chime of a cash register after his little happy outburst.

'I will recover as quickly as I can without damaging myself.' I responded feeling a little shell shocked. 'Good good, I wait to get your invitation.' The Chairman said before the line went dead.

I frowned and held the PokeGear out to Janice. 'Something doesn't feel right…' I said as I trailed off. Alph left the room as I looked in his direction. 'Nothing ever feels right about him. The chairman is as slippery as an ekans rubbed up in butter and swimming in a bucket of grease.' Janice said in a sober tone as she took her PokeGear back from me.

I frowned as I looked down into my lap. Nugget came over to me and rested his head in my lap. Nugget had started making it a habit to rest his head in my lap every time that I rested on the couch. He seemed to like getting his crest stroked and played with.

I gently stroked his head, suddenly feeling sad. I couldn't explain why I felt sad. Nugget whimpered while he looked up at me. Hank came over and gently rested his hand on my shoulder. I could only sigh as I kept stroking Nugget's little feather crest.

'Milo?' I heard Clyde ask quietly. I only looked at him in silence before clenching my jaw and shaking my head. 'I think I need a little bit of alone time. Hank could you please help me outside?' I asked looking up at Hank. Hank frowned at me in silence but scooped me up into his arms to carry me bridal style. He carried me into my room and set me down on my bed. Nugget followed after Hank with Snuggles. I shuffled over so Hank could sit next to me on the bed.

'Depressed or homesick?' Hank asked. 'Depressed, but I don't know why. I think I just need a nap to feel better. Today has been a huge day.' I said quietly, suddenly feeling the exhaustion hit me. I hadn't had an active day like that for a couple of weeks. 'It has been a huge day. I can't tell you how proud I am of you. Being sent to a new and unknown world isn't easy. I know how that feels.' Hank said trying to reassure me I think.

'You had it worse than me Hank. You had a family who was waiting your return. I'm probably going to end up on a missing persons registry or something if any one even notices that I AM missing. Heck! Knowing my bad luck the Chairman is probably going to send us back again so we can collect more fossils from my world to bring back here and do the whole Zaptor thing again.' I said with a frown. 'We will just have to keep him from ever getting that idea… unless you want to go back?' Hank asked me quietly.

I looked at him a little confused. 'I never asked if you wanted to live here with me. I just asked you to be my wife…' Hank said as he looked at me sadly with a hint of guilt in his eyes. 'That might be true but… I had nothing of value in the other world except for your friendship. Living in your world is something that I am happy to do, especially with you and your family.' I said with a weak smile. Hank returned my smile and leant toward me to hug me. I returned his hug and just held onto him, enjoying his warmth.

We stayed hugging for quite a while before Hank let go to look me in the eyes. 'Sleep Milo. I will look after Odd and Nugget for you tonight.' He said to me calmly. 'Ok, but I want cuddles once they are fed.' I said to him with a smile and a yawn.

'Stator!' Nugget said to me as he raised his head and puffed out his chest. I laughed at his reaction. 'That's right I have a Gold Nugget to cuddle, I don't need a Hank to cuddle.' I said teasingly to Hank. Nugget chirped triumphantly as the little crest on his head rose. 'Stat!' Nugget announced.

'Hey! I can have Milo cuddles too if I want Nugget!' Hank protested. Nugget only chirped and jumped up onto the bed to snuggle up to me while watching Hank. I rested my arms around Nugget while I giggled.

'It looks like I have some competition from a baby Pokemon of all things! Nugget…' Hank went to say something then paused. Hank gave me a perplexed look. 'How do I explain in a child friendly manner that you are going to be my mate soon and he hasn't got dibs on you? He was only hatched yesterday for crying out loud!' Hank said as he looked at me with a worried expression.

'Don't worry Hank I'm not about to dump you over a baby Pokemon.' I said to him with a tired smile. Hank only frowned. 'No but it looks like that Pokemon is going to deny me cuddles from my significant other for the rest of my life!' Hank said with a clenched jaw.

'You have a valid point… Nugget, I like cuddling Hank. Hank is my best friend. How would you feel if I only cuddled Snuggles and didn't let you cuddle her?' I asked looking at Nugget. Nugget looked at me with a determined expression before he lowered his head with a low whistle. 'Tor… Stat tor tor…' Nugget cooed to me in a sad voice. 'Its ok buddy, there are just times where I need to have alone cuddle time with my best friend.' Hank said quietly to Nugget before gently petting his head. 'Run along with Snuggles and see if Janice has any treats for you. If she hasn't I left you some treats in my bag.' Hank said to both of them. Snuggles and Nugget gave an excited trill and ran out of the room.

'Lay down and shuffle over. I will cuddle you until you fall asleep then I will look after our Pokemon.' Hank said to me in a firm voice. I shuffled under the blankets and moved over. I rolled onto my side so that I had my back to Hank. Hank slipped under the blankets behind me and cuddled me as the big spoon. We said nothing. I focused on Hank's heart beating through my back and his breathing in my hair. I relaxed into his embrace and soon everything was black and I was asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Black Lightning Chapter 13

It is the day of the bug catching contest. Between now and the day I caught Odd and spoken to the Chairman over the PokeGear, Janice had been careful with me. She could see how emotionally drained I was after speaking to the Pewter Museum Chairman.

Hank worked with both of our Pokemon to train them up as quickly as possible. What I saw of him working with them, he was an excellent trainer, much like Janice. Hank was structured, consistent and worked with each of them to get the most out of them possible.

Janice had also taught Hank how to calculate certain Pokemon's stats, nature and level without using any PokeGear. According to both of their calculations Nugget was growing faster than Snuggles but Snuggles had much more raw power. For the moment Nugget was a higher level than Snuggles.

Odd was a curious case. She was level fifty-one and shouldn't have been able to use double team. Double team is a TM move for Girafarig, they don't just learn that naturally. (Mr Angry also had this move now that I think about it. Maybe some of the Rage herd were abandoned or set free by someone years ago) Hank also discovered with the help of Janice that Odd's ability was Sap Sipper, useful information. According to Janice's PokeGear Odd was about thirty years old and pregnant. I wasn't surprised by this, she and Butane were very very close the afternoon that I caught her.

We were all packed into Clyde's car, Pokemon stored in their balls. I was sitting shotgun because of my bad knee. Janice, Mrs Williams and Hank were sitting in the back seat. Janice was on her PokeGear registering everyone for the next session of the day. Mandy and Cecilia were going to meet us at the National Park Information station.

Janice filled us all in on the rules of the contest before we got there. The rules were a little different to the games that I had played as a child in the so called Banishment world, and a little different from the anime.

We would each receive twenty of the special park balls.

We could only present one Pokemon at the end of the contest to be judged.

We could only keep the Pokemon that we decided to enter into the contest at the end to be judged.

We could only use one Pokemon to battle with to catch any wild bug Pokemon.

If we left the park grounds we would be assumed to be done and ready to be judged.

We could quit at any time.

Once our one battle Pokemon fainted we were out of the contest and whatever we had caught would be judged. (If we caught anything at all.)

We would be finished if we used all twenty of the park balls.

We have one hour to catch the strongest bug Pokemon we can find.

The winner is whoever catches the strongest Pokemon statistically. (disregarding age and level. It was rounded out to general over all stats and compared to the average of that Pokemon's race as a percentage. The higher the calculated percentage the stronger it was. Even if you won with a level one newly hatched baby. If it had maxed out IVs at a higher percentage than an older Pokemon, the younger one would win the contest.)

The contest will be televised live to an audience and contestants will receive a video of the whole contest, with footage of all the other contestants as well as themselves.

'I have explained to the Park Rangers that you can't walk properly and that you need the help of your Girafarig to get around. They said that was fine as long as you didn't use Odd in any battle, only Nugget. The same is for any one else who needs to or wants to ride a Pokemon. You can use a Pokemon for riding as long as you don't use that one for battle. Unless you register that same Pokemon for both purposes.' Janice said to me from the back seat while still on the phone with the National Park Rangers. 'Yes, yes. That is all correct. Thank you! See you soon.' Janice said as she ended the call.

'Ma I wasn't expecting you to actually want to enter the contest and catch a new Pokemon!' Janice said to her mother in a tone that was equal parts excited as it was surprised. 'Well June is a good helper but I'm sure she could use the help sometimes and the company of another Pokemon. Alph and Kyuubi are all good and fine but they are war veterans. I caught June at the National Park. I think it's only fair that she has a friend with some similar background to herself. Also…' Mrs Williams trailed off.

'Also?' Hank asked her. 'A Pinsir might be nice to have around to scare away trespassers. Not to mention the added bonus of those little three toed hands to help leafy old June with carrying things.' Mrs Williams said thoughtfully. 'Wow Ma, you actually put some thought into it…' Hank said sounding surprised before I heard a thump and an 'OW!' From Hank.

'Of course I have put thought into it boy! No Major's wife is going to be an unthoughtful pushover! Even with her only Pokemon being known as having a bad set of base stats and a very limited move pool. June and I use our brains not our brawn!' Mrs Williams chided Hank in an offended tone.

Janice and I laughed while Clyde muttered to himself. 'I'm so glad I am in the front seat…' He said quietly which only made me laugh more.

'What if June makes friends with a Pokemon that isn't pinsir?' I asked Mrs Williams. She was silent a moment before answering. 'Well then that is just the way that things will be. If June is happy and this other Pokemon is happy to be part of the family and help me out with things then I will be happy to welcome them. I would still prefer a pinsir and June understands this. She seemed to agree with me on the helpfulness that a pinsir would have around the house but I think she is also open minded and very adaptable.' Mrs Williams responded to my question.

All of us fell silent and remained that way until the parking lot at the front of the National Park Information Station.

Several other trainers were already there, getting ready for the contest. I smiled when I saw Cecilia holding the hand of a woman who could pass as a supermodel. Beside them stood Sniffles the little Cubchoo.

Today Cecilia wore a mint green dress with little lace up ankle boots and a white belt around her hips. She had her blue hair braided into pigtails with a flower at the end of each plat. She grinned brightly when she saw the car pull up.

The woman also smiled. I assumed that was Mandy. She was actually dressed for the outdoors. Khaki blouse, black shorts and a wide brimmed straw summer hat. Her hair was tied into two low ponytails and her make up was flawless. She was tall with long shapely legs. I looked closely at her hiking boots, they were secret high heels made to look like walking boots. Clever, I wonder if Clyde noticed this detail.

I glanced sideways at Clyde but he was already out of the car to hug Mandy and pick her up. He spun her around with a wide smile. I could hear Mandy laughing as she was spun around.

'Looks like they were still in the honey-moon phase. They have only been married seven years!' Janice said with a snort before giggling at them. She got out of the car to go and pick up Cecilia and hug her. 'Stop hogging all of the Cecilia hugs!' Mrs Williams called out as she also got out of the car in a hurry.

'Want a hand getting out of the car?' Hank asked me from the back seat as he shuffled across from the middle seat to get out. 'Please.' I answered as I opened my door. Hank got out of the car and helped me to get out of the car. I leant against him, resting my arm over his shoulder. I couldn't help but notice his grin as he helped me walk over to the others.

Clyde put Mandy down but kept her close with an arm around her waist and pressed a button on a small car remote. All the doors shut themselves and it locked with a beep.

Mandy looked at me curiously while Janice and Mrs Williams caught up with Cecilia.

'Hey Mandy.' Hank greeted in a sober tone. 'Hank, is this soon-to-be Aunty Milo that Cecilia keeps telling me about?' Mandy asked. I couldn't help but smirk slightly at that. 'Aunty Milo at your service.' I greeted her as I held out a hand to shake. I could feel Hank shiver a little as he held in a laugh. Mandy took my hand with an unamused expression before she smiled a professional smile. I had a funny feeling that she worked in retail. It was a smile I usually avoided at all cost.

'Mandy.' She said with an unimpressed tone. 'Mandy… she is the one who discovered the new Pokemon…' Clyde said to her quietly. 'In those clothes?' Mandy asked him with a shocked look on her face.

Hank and I couldn't help ourselves then, we both laughed. 'What? You can't make an important discovery or do anything important when you aren't looking your absolute best!' Mandy said with a confused expression on her face. She looked between us confused by our laughter. Something told me she was being perfectly serious.

'Milo is lazy with looking her best. Milo you shouldn't be so lazy at looking your best!' Hank teased me in a playful tone. I rolled my eyes and looked at him while I snickered. 'Well I've never had a friend nice enough to give me all the best fashion tips so that I can look my best at all times!' I said with a mock pout. Mandy gasped at that little piece of information. She looked horrified.

'Oh dear! Pick me to be your friend! I can have you looking fantastic in five minutes. Hank won't know who you are any more.' Mandy offered in an air-headed kind of innocence. Now she looked like she was suddenly feeling sorry for me. 'Thank you Mandy that is very kind.' I said with a smile. Hank only snickered.

'Don't change her too much Mandy. I might not love her any more if you do, then I won't marry her.' Hank teased playfully. Mandy looked at Hank horrified and slapped his arm. 'Hank! If you are saying that you won't love her if she is pretty and other men would like to look at her also then you don't deserve her!' Mandy snapped at him in an attempt to defend her new lazy and not fantastic friend.

It looked like I had no choice now. I was Mandy's friend. I was beginning to agree with Janice. Mandy was as dumb as a bag of rocks but she had an honest heart. I was highly amused by this and giggled. Mandy wasn't the brightest crayon in her box and she had high standards but I think I could live with her reality a little. She amused me greatly and I think I could live with her as a friend and sister-in-law.

'Its ok Mandy. Any woman that tries to get their claws into my man better watch out.' I said to her in a relaxed tone and a wink in her direction. 'You go girl! Hold onto your man!' Mandy encouraged me while she relaxed against Clyde. Clyde rolled his eyes with a smile. He looked like he felt like he was the luckiest guy on the planet. Hank only snickered at our interaction.

'Can I have everyone's attention please?' Called a voice. Everyone quieted down to look at the source of the voice. It was the park ranger. 'I'm sure you all know the rules. Some of you have need to use mounted Pokemon. That has been approved on the condition that those Pokemon are in no way to engage in battle to catch a bug Pokemon unless previously discussed and registered as such. Could everyone please release the Pokemon that you are going to use and either hand in the other Pokemon of your team for safekeeping or put your extra team members in your cars and lock them up safely.' The Ranger spoke out to all of us.

I took my two poke balls out of my pocket and released Odd. Odd gave a happy bleat and came up to me to nuzzle my face. She flooded my mind with happy feelings. She and Hank helped me up onto her back before I released Nugget.

Hank released Butane and mounted him before releasing Snuggles.

Mandy only had her cubchoo.

Hank Released Screechy and then went over to Cecilia to hand her Splash's ball. It looked like she was joining in. Even though she couldn't legally own the Pokemon she caught, they were letting her join in with parental supervision.

Cecilia released Splash with a delighted giggle. Splash laid flat on her belly and growled at Cecilia. Cecilia grinned widely and started to rub splash between the eyes. Splash wiggled on the ground happily, almost knocking over some of the other trainers and their pokemon.

I looked across to Janice. She released her Hydreigon who I heard her call Chompy. She mounted Chompy before releasing Jeckel, the dodrio.

Mrs Williams released June. I noticed that June was holding a picnic basket. I had no doubt that the two of them were going to have a quiet lunch under a tree somewhere during the contest. Mrs WIlliams wasn't one to "rush perfection" as she called it, and she never did anything important on an empty stomach.

There was someone with a Machop, someone else with a coffing and a few bug catchers with various beedrill, scyther and other powerful bug Pokemon.

It looked like our family were the only ones not entering the contest to win. The ranger went around to everyone to give them their twenty park balls, park GPS trackers and take any extra team Pokemon from the trainers.

'Is everyone ready?' The ranger asked after doing his rounds. There was a chorus of 'yes' and nodding. The Ranger checked their watch before raising their arm. They had an air horn that they let off with a loud blaring sound. 'Begin! The contest ends when you hear the air horn again!' He called out to everyone.

The bug catchers ran ahead with their Pokemon.

'Come on Splash! Let's go catch a pretty bug!' Cecilia said with a laugh as she climbed up onto Splash's head before Splash slithered away into the national park with an excited roar. 'Wait for me!' Janice called out as she followed on Chompy's back with Jeckel running along underneath to keep up. The look on the ranger's face as the sight of a little girl like Cecilia riding a huge gyrados was priceless.

'Snooze you lose love birds!' Mrs Williams called out as she hurried off also with June. I chuckled at their enthusiasm and looked at Hank and Mandy. 'See you after the contest.' I said with a smile. I was happy that the others were so focused on winning the contest that they hadn't even noticed Nugget and Snuggles. Odd bleated happily and started to run into the national park forest. 'See you after!' Hank also called out before he let Butane follow after Odd. Snuggles and Nugget ran ahead excitedly but not too far that we couldn't call them back.

Once we were away from everyone else Hank looked at me and then at Odd. 'Stop for a moment.' He said to us. Butane and Odd slowed down to a stop. Nugget and Snuggles saw us stop and they raced back to us to see what was happening.

I looked at Hank curiously. 'We can't just ride around aimlessly looking for a Yanma, they are too freaking rare and they migrate all the time constantly. Odd can you use your psychic abilities to find a Yanma on the grounds?' Hank asked looking at Odd. Odd tilted her head to the side before she closed her eyes to concentrate. We sat in silence for a moment while we waited for Odd's answer. Nugget and Snuggles amused themselves while we waited.

I could feel Odd's tail started to nibble on the back of my shirt. Odd's tail usually like to nibble on my shirts. I don't know why, but I was happy that it hadn't bitten me yet.

Odd opened her eyes and looked around before she started to walk to the east to the boundary of the national park. Butane silently followed her.

Nugget and Snuggles walked beside Odd and Butane silently. Their hunting instinct must have kicked in. I looked at them curiously, watching them both. They walked with their heads lowered, tails raised and their footsteps were light and silent. I could see little sparks coming up off Snuggles' soft downy feathers and Nugget's Shadow looked darker than everyone else's.

Odd stopped at the eastern boundary before turning to walk along the boundary line. Everyone remained deadly silent while we traveled. In the trees I could see curious weedle, wurmple and caterpie watching us. They must have known the contest was happening. They kept their distance but seemed to be wondering what we were going after.

Odd then stopped at the edge of the boundary near a natural pond. 'If we wait here one should pass soon, but you need to be fast to get them to stop so you can catch them.' Odd echoed into my mind through our connection as she positioned herself to hide among the trees. As usual Odd's voice was a soft and relaxing tone. Butane gave a snort and pawed at the ground from where he was.

'Odd says that a Yanma will pass here soon, but our window is small.' I said to Hank quietly. It seemed that the Yanma was just going to migrate through part of the National park rather than actually live on the grounds, like the other bug Pokemon.

'I'm not going to catch your Yanma for you. Nugget will have to be quick and you will need to have a ball ready to throw.' Hank said to me just as quietly as he guided Butane to also hide in the trees. I smiled a little and nodded to him silently.

'Nugget.' I called him over quietly. Nugget silently stalked over to me. I had shown Nugget pictures and videos of Yanma on the Pokemon world version of the internet. 'There will be a Yanma pass through here very soon. I need you to concentrate on being very fast to stop the Yanma before they can pass the pond. Once they pass the pond we won't be able to catch them and they will get away.' I said to him quietly. Nugget hissed in determination and then went over to wait at the pond. I took a park ball out and pressed the button on it to activate it. I felt it expand in my hand.

'Snuggles come back here, this is Nugget's target. It will be your turn next' Hank called to her quietly. Snuggles stalked over to hank silently, still in her hunting mood.

Odd silently stood very still. She must have been concentrating on the Yanma's thoughts and feeding them to Nugget's mind. Suddenly Odd gave a bleat. Nugget responded to the bleat and jumped up as high as he could with a loud threatening shrill like sound. I never heard Nugget make a war cry like that before.

Nugget was caught in mid air by a green and red blur over the pond. Nugget and the surprised yanma crashed into a tree. On impact Nugget used spark, zapping the yanma before they both fell to the ground, stunned. It was a hard hit that Nugget took and he looked like he was going to pass out. The Yanma landed and held onto its head while it buzzed in shock. Both of them looked winded.

Odd sprung out of our cover and I took my chance and threw the park ball at the Yanma. Amazingly I managed to hit it on the wing. The Yanma turned into a flash of red light and was pulled into the park ball. The ball snapped shut.

One.

Two.

Three.

Pop!

The Yanma broke free with an angry buzz. 'Nugget use spark!' I called out to Nugget, who let out another charge of electricity at the yanma. The yanma took the hit before it could flee and it fell to the ground again in a shudder from the electric shock. I threw the next ball quickly before it could recover.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

'Nugget get ready to bite the moment it comes out again.' I said to him as he struggled to his feet. Nugget was coughing and wheezing for breath still

Five.

Six.

Nugget struggled over the park ball ready to bite. I could see his short and sharp little teeth start to glow.

Seven.

Eight.

'Just stay in the bloody ball!' Hank snapped from where he was watching. I couldn't help but laugh nervously when he shouted that.

Nine.

Ten.

Pop!

The yanma broke out again and Nugget jumped right on the yanma and bit its wing. 'Thunder wave!' I said to Nugget. Nugget growled and let out another electric charge, covering the yanma in a wave of sparks to paralyse it. Nugget chirped while he chewed on the poor yanma's wings. Nugget came over to me, dragging the dazed and twitching yanma with him. 'Drop the yanma Nugget.' I said to him. Nugget dropped the yanma on the ground near Odd's feet. I activated another park ball before dropping it on the Yanma.

One.

Two.

Three.

Click!

The Yanma was caught. Hank got down off of Butane and came over with a grin. 'Well done, you caught your first Pokemon.' Hank congratulated me as he picked up the park ball and handed it to me. I pocketed the ball with a smile. 'Can you put Nugget up here with me? He deserves a good rest after a hit like that.' I asked Hank.

Hank picked up Nugget and placed him on my lap with a smile. 'Here you are buddy. Time to relax and take a break.' Hank said to him as he put him down on my lap. I cuddled Nugget as he snuggled into me with a mixture of whimpers and chirps. I stroked him while we cuddled. He must have been feeling very sore.

Hank got up onto Butane again and then looked down at Snuggles. 'Snuggles are you ready to find a friend?' Hank asked her. She gave a chirp and spun in a circle. 'Take the lead Hank, we will follow you now.' I said with a smile. I could feel Odd's tail chewing on the back of my shirt again. My shirt must have tasted nice or something.

Hank gave a click of his tongue to make Butane walk on.

We all followed Butane as Hank lead him more into the forest, away from the eastern border where I had caught the yanma. While we traveled I could feel the ground shake a little. 'Did you feel that?' I asked Hank. Hank chuckled. 'Cecilia must be close by with Splash.' Hank mused quietly.

We all paused when we saw a hyper beam fire up above the treeline, into the air. We then heard a loud hooting and lots of laughter. These were echoed with angry buzzes. I looked at Hank and laughed. 'Should we go and see?' I asked looking at Hank. 'I think we should.' Hank agreed with a smirk. We rode towards the sound of the destruction. Snuggles ran close to Butane's side before we all skidded to a stop at the sight.

Part of the forest was flattened and Splash was raging against a swarm of angry beedrill. Cecilia rode on Splash's head, laughing and giggling. She looked like she was having a lot of fun.

'Jeckel tri attack!' Came Janice's voice from above. 'Dragon rage!' Cecilia yelled. Jeckel let out a series of lightning, fire and ice at the swarm as Splash let out a torrent of purple dragon fire. Beedrill started to fall out of the sky everywhere around us.

'Feel like catching anything?' I asked with a laugh as I looked at Hank. 'No, nothing here that I want, they are all fainting way to quickly and I don't want to cramp their style. Come on, let's go find something that might win this contest.' Hank said as he turned Butane around to leave the fun chaos behind. Cecilia looked like she was going to grow up to be a formidable trainer. Especially with how well Splash, an old gyrados, listened to her commands and obeyed her every whim.

We rode for another ten minutes until we were at another part of the park. The forest opened up to a grassy clearing. In the clearing were a few random tall old trees. At the far end of the clearing was a large brown shape. 'Is that a pinsir?' I asked Hank quietly. 'Yes it is… should I go for it?' He asked me. 'It might be a nice surprise for your Ma. She might not find one if she is planning on having a picnic.' I answered quietly.

'Snuggles, our turn. Come on.' Hank said to her before he clapped his heels on Butane's sides. Butane charged forward with a loud neigh that sounded like a roar. Snuggles raced ahead across the field with a loud whistle. The whitle was a threatening cry that echoed off the trees in an eerie way.

The sound of the whistle made the pinsir turn around. I couldn't hear Hank's commands from this far away but I did see Snuggles vanish in a bolt of lightning before she jumped up at the pinsir to knock it onto its back in the grass. 'Let's get a closer look Odd.' I said to her. Odd quietly walked forward.

Nugget was watching the action as intently as I was. Odd stayed far enough away that we couldn't hear Hank's commands.

Odd wouldn't go any closer. 'What is it Odd?' I asked her. 'There are nincada under the field. If I go closer I will disturb them more and they will swarm after us.' Odd echoed into my mind. 'That could be bad news for Snuggles and Hank… Butane seems to be stamping on the ground a lot.' I said quietly to Odd while holding onto the park ball in my pocket that housed my new yanma. I wasn't about to give up a rare like yanma for a chance to catch a nincada, no matter how useful it would be for work.

'If Nugget goes and warns them before they really wake up then we can possibly avoid a swarm.' Odd echoed into my mind as she backed away from the long grass and back into the tree line.

'Nugget are you ok to run and warn Hank?' I asked looking at him. Nugget looked up at me with a hiss before wriggling off my lap to jump down onto the ground. He shook himself off and then ran to save Hank.

I watched him race over to Butane with a loud whistle. This whistle wasn't the same as the war cry from earlier. This whistle was a sharp warning to flee, more than a loud warning of attack. Snuggle's lightning died down and the Pinsir vanished in a flash of red light. I don't know if Hank caught the pinsir but it took no time at all for Butane to run into the tree line with Nugget and Snuggles against Hank's will. When they vanished into the tree line the grass in the field started to shiver.

Odd backed away further from the shaking grass. 'They are starting to swarm underground and they know we are here…' Odd echoed to me in my head. 'We should head back to the starting point. Nugget should be safe with Hank, right?' I asked Odd as I used my feet to try and steer Odd to turn around and run from the field. 'We need to get to Hank before they do. They know where he is too.' Odd echoed to me. 'Let's go then Odd. Move!' I said to her urgently as the ground near us started to crack. Odd needed no more encouragement than that.

Hordes of nincada crawled out of the ground and started to scurry after us. 'Odd faster, I need to return Nugget to his ball before he faints.' I urged Odd. She bleated while she ran and panted. I looked behind us and saw that only part of the swarm was chasing us. The rest of the swarm must have been chasing after Hank.

'Odd!' I snapped at her. 'I know, I'm going to them!' She echoed back to me in my mind. Odd started to arch around in the tree line until she was headed to where Hank and Butane were.

When we were close enough I held out Nugget's poke ball. 'Nugget return!' I called to him. He vanished in a flash of red light. Snuggles had also been returned for the moment.

'I didn't get that pinsir!' Hank yelled at me while our Pokemon ran. 'That's ok. I think I have an idea of how to stop this swarm.' I shouted back to him while we rode. 'Let's hear it!' Hank shouted back. 'Use the rest of your park balls one at a time at the swarm behind us. We can collect all the balls again later and then scan for the strongest one with Janice's PokeGear.' I called back to him. 'I don't know. I should keep the rest of my balls. We should try to just outrun them.' Hank shouted back to me.

'Cecilia and Janice are up ahead.' Odd echoed in my mind while she ran. She gave me the feeling that she had an idea that would work. I trusted Odd. Odd bleated at Butane and started to arch away. 'Hank let Butane follow Odd, she has an idea.' I called out to Hank.

Hank let the reigns loose and Butane followed Odd. The swarm was starting to fall behind. We were faster but they persisted. 'Don't make us stop, we need to keep running.' Odd echoed into my mind as she moved to run close next to Butane. She stated using her barrier attack while she ran. 'Hank let Butane run no matter what!' I called to Hank. 'Alright, I hope whatever it is works!' Hank called back.

Ahead, through the trees was brighter light. Odd and Butane broke into a clearing with fainted beedrill everywhere and plenty of fallen trees. Odd and Butane jumped all of the fallen logs in their path.

Cecilia and Janice were still there. Janice returned Jeckel when she saw us go past. 'Splash use surf on all the angry little nincada!' Cecilia called out from on top of Splash. Splash gave a roar before torrents of water flooded out of her mouth and filled up the clearing. Odd ran so that minimal water splashed onto Butane while they kept running. Odd still had her barrier activated to shield Butane from the water.

I looked over my shoulder to see the little ground bugs getting swept back into the forest and fainting from the impact of the flood from Splash's mouth.

Odd and Butane both ran until they were in the thick of the trees again. Odd started to slow down until she stopped. Butane stopped beside her and they both panted hard. 'Well… that was fun…' I said while I also panted and looked across to Hank. 'That was a good idea…' Hank was breathing hard too.

'Come back out Snuggles we need to find something to catch.' Hank said as he released Snuggles again. Snuggles chirped happily as she ran in a circle before looking up in a tree. She seemed fixated by something. Snuggles started to make a gurgling sound. I recognised this as a noise she made when she was hungry and about to eat.

I looked up to try and see what she was looking at. I didn't see anything. I looked down to Snuggles again. The little raptor with the short attention span was still looking up into the tree.

'Stator! Tor tor Stat tat tor.' Snuggles called up to someone. 'Drill… B-b-b-b-b-beeeeeee dr-dr-dr-drilll….' I heard a beedrill stutter back in response. 'Stator!' Snuggles called again. 'D-d-d-driiiiiiiiii!' The beedrill retorted. I looked at Hank as he looked at me curiously before he looked back to Snuggles. I still couldn't see a beedrill up there. Usually beedrill were not shy about making themselves known and attacking.

'Snuggles go up there and find the beedrill.' Hank said to her. Snuggles looked at him and then jumped up to a low hanging branch, before doing her best to climb up the tree and jump up into the higher benches of the old tree.

The trunk was huge and it had thick fanned out branches almost making a bowl shape from its centre. It reminded me of an ancient fig tree or an old rubber tree.

Snuggles vanished in the canopy before we all heard the sound of static shocks and a thump met us on the ground. A green beedrill! No wonder I couldn't see it up there. It was the same colour as the leaves.

Snuggles landed on it with a war like shriek and hit it with a thunder wave. She must have been angry that her last target had gotten away, or she was just very hungry and her hunting instincts had kicked into overdrive. She looked like she was fighting to eat, not fighting to let Hank catch the next member of her team.

The green beedrill buzzed angrily and went to hit Snuggled with a twin-needle. It turned into a flash of red light before getting sucked into a park ball. Hank wasn't going to waste time. He was leaning forward in his saddled and looked like he really wanted that shiny beedrill.

'TooooooOOOOOooooor!' Snuggles complained to Hank as she walked over to him and Butane. Snuggles looked up at Hank angrily. 'Not you can't eat that one. I want it for myself!' Hank said with a frown.

One.

Snuggles gave a whine. I did my best to keep from laughing. I was glad that Nugget didn't have those girly tantrums like Snuggles did. 'Snuggles! I said no!' Hank said firmly.

Two.

'I will feed you when we get back to the car.' Hank insisted in the same firm tone.

Three.

'StatOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!' Snuggles screeched at him. 'Ow!' Hank and I both said at the same time. We were holding our ears now. Both Butane and Odd shivered.

Four.

'Looks like she knows screech now…' I said looking at Hank who nodded in response with a pained expression. Butane snorted and stamped his hoof at Snuggles.

Five.

Hank and I suddenly remember that he was trying to catch a shiny beedrill. Snuggles growled defiantly at Butane. Butane snorted some small flames in her face.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

'Click and stay in there already! I want to give you a loving home!' Hank snapped angrily at the shivering park ball.

Click!

'Good!' Hank muttered. His mood soured by the tantrums of Snuggles and the loss of the pinsir. Snuggles gave a huff as she looked at the poke ball. Hank dismounted off of Butane and went and picked up the park ball. Hank looked at Snuggles with a glare.

'Snuggles, this is your new team mate. NOT FOOD! I know weedle are your favourite to eat but this one is not to be eaten.' Hank said to her firmly as he held the park ball up to her. Snuggles looked away and pretended to not hear him while she growled quietly. 'Snuggles look at me.' Hank said firmly. Butane snorted and stamped his hoof at Snuggles again. Snuggles growled again but looked at Hank. 'You will not eat this beedrill. This beedrill is now your team mate. You don't have to be friends but you DO have to get along and learn to work together.' Hank said to her in an absolute tone. Snuggles submissively lowered her head and gave a whistle. 'Tor…' She said quietly. 'Good! Return.' Hank called her back to her own poke ball before clipping them both onto his belt.

Hank sighed and looked at me with a troubled frown. 'I wonder if the dominant gene is a female thing for their kind.' I mused as I looked at Hank.

Nugget didn't give me that kind of attitude. In fact he was the opposite. He might have been bold and out-going but he listened to me and submitted to my leadership.

Snuggles was shy and quiet but she always seemed to question Hank's authority and override it with her own ideas. I remembered the female zaptor on television the other night. She looked like a nasty piece of work to deal with. If Snuggles was going to grow up like that then Hank had a lot on his plate to deal with. He had to get her to submit to him now and gain her respect before she decided to grow up like that. Especially if she was going to live with the rest of us.

'If it is… I made my choice. She is just going to have to learn that I am the boss and she is to listen to me. I'm not about to trade her in to Lee to get a calmer male.' Hank said with a frustrated sigh.

Butane walked up to Hank and nudged him with his nose. 'Shall we go and see how Cecilia and Janice are going with that swarm of nincada?' I asked Hank in an attempt to change the topic and put something better in his mind. 'Hank smiled a little before he laughed a little. 'Sure, that sounds like a fun idea. They are probably busy picking up all their park balls off the ground so they can sort out their catch.' Hank said as he mounted Butane again. Hank turned Butane around and started him at a walk back to the clearing that Splash had made. Odd followed quietly, the mood a little heavy for now.

When Hank and I returned to the clearing it was as he predicted. Cecilia and Janice were picking up park balls off the ground. It was like watching children at an Easter egg hunt. I'm not even sure they knew who had thrown which ball, they were just picking up heaps and heaps of poke balls.

'Any luck getting anything?' Janice asked. 'We got one thing each. It's easier that way. We don't have to make a decision then.' Hank said with a playful smirk. Cecilia giggled. 'Uncle Hank we used up ALL of our poke balls! All the beedrill and nincada. I don't know what to pick!' Cecilia said with an excited smile. 'Hold on kiddo! We need to count what we have, split it all fifty-fifty and then we figure out the strongest two using the poke gear.' Janice said with a serious voice. 'Ok!' Cecilia agreed with a determined smile.

Not far away Splash, Chompy and Jeckel were all playing in the mud puddles together. It was a strange thing to see a gyrados (known for going on rampages) a dodrio (not always the best tempered bird) and a hydreigon (just plain bad news and killer instinct) playing together in the mud quite happily.

'We are heading back to the starting point to submit our entries. We just wanted to make sure that you were ok.' Hank said with a smile before he looked at me with a wink. 'Let's keep our catches a secret.' He said quietly. I felt myself smile as I nodded in agreement.


	14. Chapter 14

Black Lightning Chapter 14

When Hank and I returned we found one of the other bug catchers there. His Pokemon had fainted before he could catch anything more than a wurmple. He had registered it as his catch for the contest but he was planning on returning it to the wild. He wasn't happy with its stats or nature and had entered the competition to win.

After his short explanation Hank and I approached the Ranger's office to register and enter the details of the Pokemon that we had caught. We both intended on keeping what we had caught. Hank dismounted before entering the office. I stayed at the door still mounted on Odd.

'Dr Williams, which Pokemon are you entering to be judged?' The ranger asked with a polite smile. Hank held the ball out on the palm of his hand. The ranger took the ball and scanned it into the database with a slight frown. 'Do you intend on keeping this Pokemon?' The ranger asked as he typed into his PokeGear with one hand and handed the ball back to Hank with the other. 'Yes I do.' Hank responded confidently. The ranger looked at Hank surprised.

'Is it bad that Hank wants to keep his catch?' I asked as I leant forward to look through the doorway and looked at the ranger. I was still sitting up on Odd's back. Odd was looking in the office curiously.

'Well yes actually. Several trainers have already rejected this beedrill. She might be shiny but she has a timid nature and less than average stats. She is not an ideal battle Pokemon and has come last place every time she has been entered into the contest.' The ranger said in a worried tone. 'I don't want her to win the contest and I don't want her to be a battle Pokemon. I just like that she is a shiny and that makes her special to me. I want to keep her as a companion.' Hank said calmly with a small smile.

He must have really been thinking about what to do with his new shiny Pokemon. I couldn't think of a practical use for the beedrill but I didn't mind. Hank liked her and he liked the oddness of shiny Pokemon. That was good enough for me.

The ranger smiled after he saw that Hank was perfectly serious. 'You came here because you wanted the shiny beedrill?' The ranger asked. 'No. I came here to have fun with my family and do something different. My niece had a blast and that's what makes it all worth it. First prize is nice and all but I would rather walk away with something I feel is better than that.' Hank explained calmly. The ranger smiled and gave a nod before he looked at me.

I grinned and held my ball out for him. 'Dr Smith. I plan on keeping my catch.' I said to him as he took the ball from my hand. He scanned the ball with his PokeGear and his jaw dropped.

'How?' He asked as he looked up at me. I shrugged and petted Odd on her neck. 'It's a secret, but if you look on your footage and check my GPS tracker you will see that I didn't leave the park to get it.' I said to him calmly. He nodded.

'I would keep this too if I caught it, not just because she is super rare but… Her stats are incredible. Her nature is neutral but it doesn't matter, all of her numbers are stacked, well as stacked as they can be for her age. According to this she is three days old and only level two.' The ranger told me as he started to type into his PokeGear again. He handed me the ball back.

'So you caught a little prodigy. You should name her after you.' Hank teased with a laugh. 'Oh hush!' I said before I remembered something. 'Um, do you have a healing station? My Stator took quite a hard hit from this baby girl. Actually they both had quite the battle and both need to be healed.' I said in a worried tone. 'Of course, please dismount from your Girafarig and come inside.' The ranger said to me rather kindly.

Hank helped me to get down from Odd and then helped me to walk over to the healing station. I put Nugget and the new yanma's ball on the healing station. Hank added Snuggles and the shiny beedrill as well. The Ranger keyed in a code. A white flash of light traced under all of the balls like the light from a photocopy machine before it gave a cheery beep like sound to indicate that it was done. I couldn't believe it. It was just like the original gameboy games!

Hank and I took our Pokemon back and he helped me back out of the office and back onto Odd. The Ranger followed us to the door. He looked at me with pity in his eyes. I smiled down at him calmly. 'Thank you for letting me ride my Girafarig this time. I wouldn't have made it beyond this building otherwise.' I thanked the ranger. 'You're welcome. I'm sorry that you have trouble walking. What happened might I ask?' The ranger looked curious now as he smiled politely. 'My knee was crunch attacked by a mightyena.' I said dryly. The ranger gave a visible wince then a shudder. 'I hope you heal back to normal soon Dr Smith. Please wait here until the contest is over, there is ten minutes left.' The ranger told us politely.

Hank and I went over to wait near Clyde's car. There was a static sound before an intercom sounded, similar to that in a school yard. 'Attention contestants! You have ten minutes left for the competition. Please try to finalise your catches and start to make your way back to the starting point where the judging will happen. Late returners will be disqualified. Thank you and see you all soon.' The ranger announced over the loudspeaker.

'Hopefully Clyde and Mandy didn't go too far. Mandy doesn't like to walk.' Hank remarked with a laugh. His laughter was cut short when he saw Mandy and Clyde return only seconds after the announcement. They must have already been making their way back. Mandy was holding Sniffles paw. Sniffles looked completely unscathed. Either Mandy caught nothing or that cubchoo was so overpowered that it took no damage. Mandy, Clyde and Sniffles all entered the Ranger's office before making their way over to us.

'Did you have any luck catching anything?' I asked them both as they approached. 'We both caught something. We are still undecided on if we keep anything.' Clyde said calmly. Mandy just nodded. 'I didn't catch a beautifly. But what we did find was cute, too cute to pass up!' Mandy said with a little squeal of excitement.

'What did you find?' Hank asked Mandy. 'An illumise and a volbeat sleeping together in a hollow tree. Such a cute little couple!' Mandy said with a squeal. Hank smirked and looked at Clyde. 'Couldn't bear to just catch one and not the other, you needed to catch both together?' Hank asked in a subtle teasing tone that only Clyde picked up on. Clyde narrowed his eyes at Hank.

'Oh Hank! We couldn't separate them! That would have been heartbreaking!' Mandy said with wide eyes and a pout. 'At least they will have been taken away from their home together.' I said with a shrug.

Mandy gasped at that. 'Oh no! Clyde we have to set them free again! We kidnapped them in their sleep! We are horrible, horrible people!' Mandy insisted to Clyde, thinking it was horrible that a Pokemon couple should be caught in their sleep now that she had already done it. 'Ok honey. After the ranger judges them for the competition we will go and return them to where we found them ok?' Clyde asked her, seeing if that would fix it. 'Yes! Yes we must! That is a very good idea Clyde. I am so happy that you are very smart, you look after us all so well!' Mandy said with big adoring eyes and a smile.

If anyone else had said those words I would have thought that Clyde was being mocked, but Mandy meant it from the bottom of her heart. She looked at Clyde like he was her hero. Clyde looked like he revelled in being her hero. It looked like it had a lot of perks for him.

A triumphant roar sounded and Splash came crashing through the trees. She stopped at the Ranger's office and laid down flat so that Cecilia could climb off of her to register her catch.

Janice followed shortly after Cecilia. Splash waited for the little girl patiently and gave a content growl when she returned outside. Cecilia pointed at us before skipping over with a park ball in her hand. 'I caught the strongest nincada in the world! Can I keep him? Please! Please! Please!' Cecilia begged her parents as she came up to the group. She looked up at Mandy with big eyes and then up at Clyde. 'Please Daddy please? I caught him fair and square. My first Pokemon that I caught… I think…' Cecilia said before pausing and blushing.

Hank and I burst out laughing. 'What do you mean you "think"?' Clyde asked her with a raised brow. Hank and I laughed, we both knew exactly why Cecilia couldn't be sure. 'W-well… you see… Aunty Janice and I fainted so many Pokemon all at once and we all threw balls at the strongest ones that we could see while we were fighting that we didn't pay attention to who caught what, we just split the catch in half and then kept the strongest of our share…' Cecilia explained before she smiled up at Clyde sweetly. 'Can I keep him please? If I didn't catch him then Aunty Janice said that he was a present from her. Please! Please! Please! Daddy!' Cecilia begged.

Clyde looked at Hank with a sigh. "Well we cant be getting rid of a present from Aunty Janice. It would make her so sad she would throw plates at the wall and hit daddy with the ugly stick many, many, many times.' Clyde groaned in defeat.

Hank smirked. 'I'm still doing the venonat thing with her after this.' Hank aid calmly which made Clyde groan more and roll his eyes before he sighed and gave in. This time it looked like he really gave in.

'Yes you can keep the nincada. But you have to feed him out of your allowance, and clean up after him and be responsible,' Clyde started saying before he was cut off. 'And I will wash him and train him and love him and sing songs and we will read bedtime stories and he will help me with my homework and I will have him for ever and ever and ever! Mr Ranger! Daddy says that I can keep the nincada!' Cecilia said loudly in her excitement before running off to finish business in the ranger's office.

I tried my best to not laugh at Clyde's suffering, but Cecilia was having a lot of fun today. The other bug catchers returned from the park along with the other trainers and eventually Mrs Williams.

No one was disqualified for being late.

The ranger had us line up with all Pokemon put away in their balls. We had all received a DVD of the security camera footage of the Pokemon contest, starring everyone. I had to stand on my own two feet for this part but Hank offered me a shoulder to lean on.

'Is everyone ready?' The ranger asked us. Everyone agreed they were ready, either verbally or by physically nodding.

'Third place we have Mrs Iris Williams with a pinsir. Please come forward to collect your prize.' The ranger said with a small smile. I looked at Hank surprised. His mother had actually caught the pinsir that she wanted. I smiled at her as she received a citrus berry and a ribbon as a prize. She took her place beside the Ranger and released the pinsir for all to see. He was covered in burn marks and in a foul mood but made no attempt to escape or hurt anyone. Something told me that this pinsir had been through this before, but hadn't been kept by its captors.

'Hank… is that the same pinsir that you battled against with snuggles?' I asked in him a whisper. 'It sure looks like it…' Hank said quietly before smiling and nodding to his mother. She blew him a kiss and smirked. Hank shrugged, not letting it embarrass him.

'In second place we have a tie. Could young Miss Cecilia Williams come forward and Champion bug trainer Fluke Shrike. Cecilia caught a nincada and Fluke caught a dustox. The stats are equal on every level, including actual level!' The ranger announced.

Cecilia skipped forward to collect her prize, an everstone and a second place ribbon. She shook hands with the ranger before stepping to the side so that the other trainer could also collect their prize. They stood next to each other next to Mrs Williams and let out the Pokemon that they caught for everyone to see.

'Before I announce first place I have an honourable mention. This Pokemon is an honourable winner for coming last place more than any other Pokemon in the park and today the trainer who caught her has decided to keep her. Dr Hank Williams would you please step forward and accept this black participation ribbon.' The ranger announced, calling Hank forward.

Hank waited for me to get onto my feet properly before he stepped forward. He walked up to the ranger and took the ribbon with a firm handshake before walking to the other side of the Ranger to release the shiny beedrill. The beedrill looked around and then hid behind Hank.

'Aww Hank she is adorable! Frightening but so adorable!' Mandy called to him. I think she was trying to be encouraging. 'Seriously? You caught ANOTHER shiny? What are you collecting them or something?' Clyde asked in an agitated tone. 'Yeah, I'm collecting Shiny Pokemon bro, get over it.' Hank retorted with a smirk.

The Ranger cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. 'May I announce first prize now?' He asked everyone. Everyone fell silent and let him speak.

'First place goes to a Pokemon so rare we hardly ever see it in our park, only one other person has ever been successful in catching this species of Pokemon in a contest. They did so before I became a ranger here, so this is a first for me. Dr Smith caught a yanma with the best individual value stats I have ever seen a Pokemon have. Congratulations, please come forward.' The Ranger said with a smile.

I slowly limped forward until I got to the Ranger. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Janice was staring at me with her jaw dropped. I received a leaf stone and a first place ribbon. I shuffled to turn around and release the yanma for everyone to see it. I returned it just as quickly before it could fly away in a hurry. She was ready to escape.I was going to have my hands full with this one. She was no joke. I was going to have to come up with a name.

Satisfied that the Ranger had done his job he walked back to his office as I was surrounded by the other bug catchers and Janice. 'How did you get it?' One of them asked. 'What gender is it?' Someone else asked. 'Milo are you going to breed her?' Janice asked over all of them. They all paused a moment before going back to asking more questions than I had time for answers.

'Ok! Ok! Give the woman a break!' Came Hank's voice over everyone. He pushed his way through the small crowd and gave me his shoulder to lean on. I said nothing and let Hank lead me to Clyde's car. 'Janice get over here, you're driving!' Hank snapped at her. 'I'm coming too!' Cecilia called out as she bounced out of the crowd. Cecilia's new Nincada bounce after her, following at her heels.

I looked past the excited bug catchers and noticed that Clyde and Mandy were going back to the national park grounds to return their Pokemon to where they found them.

'PINSIR!' Mrs Williams' new pinsir seemed to shout at everyone. It stepped between Hank and myself and the following crowd. They all backed away from the angry Pokemon and watched as Hank helped me back into the front seat of the car. Janice got into the driver's seat and started the car. Cecilia got into the car, and buckled herself into the middle as Mrs Williams and Hank got into the seats either side of Cecilia. Mrs Williams' returned the pinsir as Janice started to drive away.

I gave a sigh and leant back into my seat to relax. 'Thank you for getting me out of there… too much attention…' I said tiredly. 'Its ok Aunty Milo. We love you so we won't let you get attacked by a mob of fans.' Cecilia said innocently from the back seat. I could hear a strange humming sound. The nincada must have been on her lap. I couldn't help but smile at that.

'So how did you even find the yanma?' Janice finally asked. I looked at Janice with a smirk. 'Odd…' this was all I said before trailing off. 'Isn't that cheating?' Janice asked. Hank snickered. 'No. They never said in their rules that a psychic Pokemon isn't allowed to aid a trainer in finding their target Pokemon.' Hank retorted. 'He is right Janice. Milo would have caught yanma according to the rules or they wouldn't have let her keep the Pokemon or even win at all!' Mrs Williams pointed out.

'Ok, but what gender is it? Are you going to breed it?' Janice asked in a hopeful voice. 'Yes and female.' I answered as I looked at her. Before she could ask anything else I looked into the back seat over my shoulder. 'Hey Cecilia guess what!' I said to her excitedly. 'What?' She asked, picking up on my tone. Her big blue eyes went wide as she looked at me with an innocent smile.

'Uncle Hank wants to get a venonat to help him with his work.' I told her to steer the conversation away from my new Pokemon and onto something else. 'Really? Where are you going to get one from?' Cecilia asked Hank in an innocent voice. 'Well I was going to ask you to help me pick the best one out of the next morning news paper. A free one that needs a new home. Do you think you can help me make a good decision?' Hank asked her.

Cecilia gave an excited gasp. 'Yes! Oh Yes! I can! The next paper is usually delivered tomorrow morning!' Cecilia announced excitedly. 'Really? Well then you can help me a lot with picking. If you pick a really good one that needs lots of love and is sad because its old family doesn't want it any more then I will let you name it and have it when you turn ten.' Hank said to her in a stage whisper.

Cecilia gave a gasp. 'Really? But… but you said you needed venonat to help you with your work.' She said in a concerned tone. 'I do, but when that one grows up into a venomoth it won't have the same eyesight as when it was a venonat. I won't need the venonat when it becomes venomoth. I also thought that you would really like a venomoth on your team in the future. They can be very handy for a beginner trainer.' Hank said softly. 'Oh! So… so it will be a tenth birthday present for me but you will look after it until I have turned ten?' Cecilia asked. She caught on quickly. 'That's right. I really do need a venonat for work though. I was serious about that.' Hank said to her.

'I would like a venomoth when I grow up.' Cecilia said quietly. The excitement was gone from her voice, she sounded very serious. 'Why is that?' Hank asked her. 'I want to make antidotes for people. There are lots of poisonous Pokemon out there that don't get love because people are scared that they will get poisoned to death. I want to make things that will help people become immune to their Pokemon's poison so they don't have to be scared any more or throw away their friends. I want to be a Doctor that loves all the poison type Pokemon. I want to specialise in it so that I can save other peoples and Pokemon's lives.' Cecilia announced.

'Then why didn't you take the beedrill?' Janice asked Cecilia. 'Because the nincada was cute and it was the only one who didn't faint from Splash's surf attack. I wanted a Pokemon that Splash couldn't one shot KO.' Cecilia explained simply.

I shrugged. 'That is a good reason to keep that one specifically.' I agreed. 'Wait… How do you know this is the one that didn't faint?' Hank asked Cecilia. I could see in the reflection of the rear view mirror that Cecilia held up the nincada. 'Because he has a missing back leg!' Cecilia announced. 'Nin!' The nincada agreed while it waved all of its legs around.

The Nincada looked like it had a Jolly nature. It was chirping happily like a cricket. 'Well that certainly is a distinguishing feature.' I said with a laugh. Cecilia was observant. I had no doubt that she would look after her three-legged Nincada with all the love and attention that it deserved.

I sighed remembering that I now had a yanma that I needed to convince to not run away from me. I fell silent and stopped paying attention to the conversation in the car while I tried to think of how to train my new yanma.

I could let her out in the bedroom with the door and window shut. But I didn't want her to panic and break anything. If I let her out outside… she would just try to fly away again. I took the park ball out of my pocket and looked at it.

'I think I should name her first… maybe that would help.' I muttered to myself out loud without realising it. 'What was that Milo?' Janice asked me. She had heard me. Hank, Mrs Williams and Cecilia were busy talking in the back seat amongst themselves. 'I am trying to think of a name for the yanma so she doesn't try to just fly away from me again the next time that I release her.' I sighed to her.

I looked at Janice who was smiling sadly. 'Don't force the name. Yanma will come around in time and hopefully stop trying to escape.' Janice said. I looked down at the green and brown park ball with a sigh.

I went silent again for a while. Maybe if I left Nugget or Odd with the yanma in the bedroom alone for a while to make friends first. Then maybe she wouldn't try to escape from me. Or maybe I needed to catch more Pokemon so that the yanma didn't feel so alone in being the only one who was newly caught. I needed more poke balls if I was going to attempt that. Actually, I needed a lot of things. A new backpack, PokeGear, potions, revives, repels, rope, a ball belt that could be modified to have extra slots, all the basics.

'Janice?' I asked her. 'Yes?' She asked glancing at me sideways the same time that I had. 'I think I need to go shopping. I need supplies. New clothes, items, those types of things. I haven't had a chance yet.' I said to her quietly. 'Oh HELL to the YES! Hank, Ma, Cecilia?' Janice called to the back seat.

'Milo needs some supplies. Feel like a trip to the poke mart?' Janice asked all of them. 'I want to see Aunty Milo get a new trainers outfit! She could look really pretty!' Cecilia piped up. I heard Hank chuckle. 'Yeah I need things too! Bloody Lee hasn't sent us our own Poke Gear yet. Can I borrow some money until Lee delivers the goods?' Hank asked Janice. 'I could go for a shopping spree.' Mrs Williams echoed.

'Shopping spree!' Janice said excitedly. I guess even some tomboys and rich, strong pokemon champions have things they like to shop for. 'Hang on a moment… Hank did you say that Lee STILL hasn't given you your Poke Gear yet?' Janice asked now suddenly grouchy. 'YeP!' Hank said making a "pop" sound on the "P".

Janice started to silently seeth while she drove. 'Uncle Hank… How did you do that?' Cecilia asked him. 'Do what?' He asked her. 'Make that popping sound! I want to learn that too! It looks like fun!' Cecilia said curiously. I could feel myself smile while Hank tried to teach Cecilia how to make the pop sound with her lips.

'Milo dear?' I heard Mrs Williams call from the back seat. 'Yes?' I asked her. 'Do you really only own two sets of clothes?' She asked. 'Yeah… I have for years…' I said to her suddenly feeling very small. 'Well! No daughter of mine is going to be short on clothes. We are getting you new outfits first. You can pay me back later.' Mrs Williams insisted. 'I… but…' I started to stutter before she cut me off. 'No buts! I am going to get you everything you need! A sunday best, work clothes, casual relaxing clothes, night clothes… maybe something that will give my son a nose bleed at the honeymoon.' She hinted a little cheekily. I could feel my cheeks burn a little.

'Ohhhh! Can I come on this shipping spree?' Hank asked with a cheeky voice. 'No Hank, you are going with Janice to get all the gear that you need and visit the jewlers.' Mrs Williams said sternly. 'Actually… yeah I should do that. Coming with me for that Janice?' Hank asked his sister.

'Yeah, once I bite Lee's ears off through the PokeGear. Coming with us Cecilia?' Janice asked hopefully. 'Only if we buy special accessories for Aunty Milo. I want to see her with a bow in her hair and practice braiding it. I want Uncle Hank to only look at her so she needs to be extra pretty! Like Daddy only looks at Mama!' Cecilia said with a sweet little voice. I could feel myself blushing at her words. I cleared my throat before looking at Cecilia over my shoulder.

'I'm not pretty?' I asked her, pretending to be hurt. Cecilia looked at me shocked. 'Y-You are! Aunty Milo is pretty! She is just… you are just like a princess in a story before the magic clefairy-god-mother comes and uses her special move to make her the prettiest princess in the land.' Cecilia explained before Janice cut in with a laugh. 'We will find her the perfect lace ribbon so you can practice your braids and do Aunty Milo's hair!' Janice said with a laugh.

'It's settled then. I will take Milo for new clothes. Hank, Janice and Cecilia you will get that ring sorted, get plenty of poke balls and other supplies that are needed. Also Janice don't forget to stick your pointiest boot up Lee's rear. He should of had the PokeGear sorted days ago!' Mrs William concluded to organise everyone.

Everyone in the car fell silent with agreement. The matriarch had spoken, and so shall these things be done!


	15. Chapter 15

Black Lightning Chapter 15

Janice dropped Mrs WIlliams and I off first. I released Odd from her ball and climbed up onto her back so that I wasn't painfully limping around everywhere and slowing Mrs Williams down. 'I don't know if they will let Odd into the store.' Mrs WIlliams said with a frown. 'Then I guess we'll just have to ask extra nice. If they say no then I will just limp my way around the store. But I'm not going to hurt myself actually getting to the store.' I said with a shrug while sitting up on Odd's back.

As soon as I was on Odd's back, her tail started to chew on the back of my shirt. I was wearing old clothes and it felt like a nice massage on my lower back, so I didn't mind at all.

Mrs Williams nodded, accepting that compromise. 'Come along Odd we haven't much time before the shops shut for the evening!' Mrs Williams ordered Odd. Odd answered with a bleat and followed the old lady to what looked like a boutique clothing store.

Mrs Williams ignored the "No NonTrainer Pokemon in the store!" sign on the door and opened it for Odd to enter the store first. I mentally urged Odd to enter the store. Odd's mind was flooded with curiosity as she looked around. The rows of clothing, shoes and accessories neatly organised around us must have been quite an experience for her.

'Iris! Dearie, I've not seen you in a while!' greeted a friendly aged voice. 'Gracie! I have a favour to ask you!' Mrs Williams greeted just as cheerfully to the store clerk who hurried over to see her friend but stopped to inspect Odd with an eye of curiosity and something else.

The store clerk was an elderly lady in a cream knitted cardigan and a straight trim sky-blue skirt. Her hair was twisted up in a bun, held by a big butterfly clip. She reminded me of the grandmother in the Little Red Riding Hood books that I read growing up. She had a soft pudgy face with lots of wrinkles.

I leant forward and dismounted from Odd, slowly slipping to put my feet on the floor to take my own weight. 'Sorry Odd. Time to return you now.' I said with a sad sigh as I took Odd's ball out to return her. 'Excuse me love, did you just call your Girafarig Odd?' Old Gracie asked me before I could return her. For now she ignored her friend's request for a favour. 'Yes I did.' I said looking at her a little surprised.

Gracie teared up a little and threw herself at Odd hugging her around the neck. Odd gave a confused bleat. 'Girafarig?' Odd asked confused. 'Do you know Odd Gracie?' Mrs Williams asked her.

Gracie seemed to return to the real world and she let go of Odd. 'I'm sorry. It has just been so long since I last saw her. She was only a newly hatched baby the last time that I saw her.' Gracie said as she took a handkerchief from her pocket to dry her eyes with a sad smile.

'You mean that Odd was your husbands?' Mrs Williams asked Gracie. Gracie smiled softly and nodded. She was still trying to dry her eyes. 'What do you mean?' I asked both of the older women. 'Oh Where are my manners! I'm Gracie! Miss Odd here is a Girafarig from my husband's old breeding stock. You see, Girafarig are not native around here but after my husband died he asked that all of his Girafarig be set free on the outskirts of Mahogany Town to protect the town from the war. Girafarig went extinct in the wild about seventy years ago. My husband bought Girafarig off different breeders and trainers and started a rescue program for them to get their numbers back up again so that they didn't vanish forever.' Gracie explained.

'Well that explains why Odd know's double team. I'm Dr Milo Smith, Dr Hank Williams' fiancee. I'm also Odd's new trainer… or rather she is my better set of legs for now.' I said sheepishly as I introduced myself.

Gracie gave a gasp. 'Sweet little Hank is getting married?' Gracie asked as she looked me up and down surprised. Odd gave a happy bleat while her tail started to chew on a clothing rack curiously. 'Yes, Hank is getting married to this down-to-earth woman here. This woman also needs new clothes. A complete new wardrobe of clothes! She literally only owns two outfits, both as worn out as each other.' Mrs Williams told her friend in a firm tone.

Gracie clicked her tongue and shook her head. 'Come along Miss Milo. Off to the changing rooms! We must remedy this disaster immediately! We will start with your trainer gear. What Pokemon types do you have?' Gracie asked me as she took my elbow and started to lead me to the changerooms.

'Dark, electric, psychic, bug and flying.' I said a little shell shocked as I was led away against my will. 'I will get you the perfect outfit will protect you from your electric type, but is also light and breathable for your flying type should you be able to ride them! You sound like you are getting ready to become a Champion!' Gracie remarked as she opened the dressing room door and pushed me in. Before I could say anything she shut the door behind me. 'Now wait here I will be back with the perfect outfits for you for every practible thing you will need to do in life!' She ordered. I wasn't given a choice but to wait for the first outfit to be thrown at me over the changeroom door.

While I was forced to play dress-ups for my own good, I learned about Odd's past and Gracie's old husband. Gracie was a war widow like Mrs Williams. Her husband had been a Girafarig breeder before he was conscripted into the army. He had been put into Major Williams' platoon and fought alongside him. Gracie's husband had died in the war a few years before Major Williams' had.

Odd had been one of the last Girafarig to be bred. Mr Angry in the past had been called 'Snooker' and was once the prize breeding stud for Gracie's Husband's breeding program. Snooker was a Champion registered pokemon, having beaten the entire League at the time all on his own. His horn had been broken in battle during the war. Snooker was also Odd's father. Odd was only a month old when she had been released into the wild with the rest of the Girafarig.

'Wait! If Snooker was a Champion registered pokemon and top level, then how come he lost in a battle against Butane?' I asked in the middle of a clothing change from inside the changeroom. Somehow earlier I had mentioned that I was an Archeologist and needed suitable outdoor clothing and lab attire.

Gracie had shut the store but was letting us stay there to shop past closing hours. If I heard correctly Mrs Williams had arranged for Mandy and Clyde to pick us up. Hank, Janice and Cecilia had gone home ahead of us so that we could continue to play dress-ups.

I heard Mrs Williams laugh at my question. 'Did Hank not tell you Milo?' she asked me. 'Tell me what?' I asked from inside the change room. 'Hank is also a registered pokemon champion. He defeated the league's elite four with just Butane and got his sixteen gym badges for both regions. Butane is also a registered champion stud, but has never had the chance to do any of that kind of work because of… well I'm sure you can figure that out.' Mrs Williams said to answer my question.

'Oh Butane took that chance to do stud work the other night. Odd is pregnant with his egg right now.' I said with a snicker from behind the door. 'Odd! You gorgeous creature you! I think I have just the present for you!' I heard Gracie say to Odd. I heard Odd give a happy bleat in response. I had a funny feeling that I wasn't going to be the only one that was spoilt this shopping spree.

I was glad when it was all over. The most embarrassing part was when Gracie and Mrs Williams insisted on helping me pick the sexiest lingerie possible for the night of the honeymoon. Gracie was stunned when I told her that Hank and I hadn't even kissed yet.

I guess Hank really was saving all of that stuff for a special occasion. He wasn't one to rush things for the sake of rushing. He usually thought things through and calculated things to the extreme when I wasn't paying attention.

I didn't see Odd until Mrs Williams and I left the store with our hands full of bags of my new clothes and simple wearable gear. Odd looked beautiful. Gracie had groomed her coat and given her a flower crown made from fake wild flowers. 'Odd! You look great!' I said, genuinely meaning it as I limped painfully out of the store.

'Farig! Rafarig!' Odd bleated to me confidently. We must have really made Gracie's day by brining Odd into the store. I smiled and leant against Odd while we waited for Clyde and Mandy to pick us up.

They didn't take long to turn up. Clyde came out of the driver's seat to take the bags from myself and his mother. I returned Odd with a small smile. 'Mandy my love, Milo needs the front seat.' Clyde called Mandy as he shut the back of the car after putting the shopping there. 'Oh! Oh! I forgot your leg! You poor dear. Here Milo have the front seat and tell me all about your shopping spree!' Mandy said in a fluster as she got out of the front passenger seat and left the door open to let me in.

She did her best to help me into the car. It was an awkward experience, but she did care. I appreciated the help, even if it did hurt me a little. Mandy wasn't the nursing sort, even if she did try.

'There isn't much to tell Mandy. Gracie tossed outfits at her. Milo tried them on and then Gracie took them off of her and packed them up before throwing the next outfit at her.' Mrs WIlliams said with an amused voice. 'So she has some hot new outfits? Excellent! Now I can help her not be lazy about looking fabulous everywhere she goes! My new sister is an important person in our society. She needs to dress the part!' Mandy announced as though it was some kind of revelation. I wondered silently if she was an image consultant or just very self conscious about appearances.

Id didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 'Thank you Mandy.' I thanked her awkwardly. Clyde noticed my discomfort and chuckled. 'Go gently Mandy. Milo isn't used to all of the prepping and fussing that you do to make sure you look absolutely stunning every second of the day just for me.' Clyde said in a highly amused voice.

'You right now… are just like Hank… that sense of humour, does that run in the family?' I asked Clyde with narrowed eyes. Clyde smirked at me and wiggled his eyebrows playfully. 'You better believe it. If you are familiar with this sense of humour then why say yes to my brother?' Clyde asked with a dark smirk.

'What sense of humour?' Mandy asked, confused. The dark humour and hinted jokes went over her head. Clyde ignored her and watched me instead. I could feel my cheeks start to burn again. 'Because… Hank is the only friend that I managed to make growing up. He is my best friend and never has he betrayed me or left my side…' I admitted quietly.

Mandy gave a gasp before going 'Aww!' from the back seat. 'Milo, you had no friends except for Hank? That is so sad. I had so many friends growing up. But now they aren't my friends any more. They are bad friends. For some reason they don't like Clyde. I love Clyde!' Mandy announced in her hair-brained way. 'Thanks babe! I love you too!' Clyde said with a triumphant grin.

'Ugh! Can we hurry up and get home so that I can get away from all the baby making pheromones. I want grandchildren but I don't want to be around when you are making them!' Mrs Williams scoffed at them.

Clyde burst out laughing as Mandy gave a confused sound. 'But we aren't making you more grandchildren right now! No one is naked!' Mandy argued. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. 'Good! Keep your clothes on until you are in the privacy of Clyde's bedroom!' Mrs Williams said bluntly.

I had no words to respond to the direction that the conversation had gone in. I found it equal parts amusing and uncomfortable.

Up ahead I saw a bolt of lightning shoot up into the sky and across the road. We were close to the house now. 'What was that?' Mandy asked the second she had seen it. 'Snuggles…' I said in a dark voice.

Snuggles and Hank must have been arguing. Hank needed to get her under control before she grew any more. I could think of a few choice words for Snuggles right then and there.

When the car pulled up to the house it revealed Hank standing over Snuggles and silently seething while she hissed and snarled up at him. Snuggles had lightning coming off her in all directions except aimed at Hank. Butane stood to the side watching cautiously, waiting for Hank to give the signal for him to deal with the baby Pokemon having a hissy fit. Again I was glad that Nugget didn't put me through this kind of anxiety.

I clenched my jaw and opened the car door. 'Milo what are you doing?' Clyde asked must have just noticed the tight clench in my jaw while I glared at Snuggles. I forced myself to get out of the car unaided and limped over to Snuggles, locking my eyes on hers.

Odd and Nugget broke out of their poke balls at feeling my mood become so dark and serious. They both stood back to watch what i was going to do. Neither of them had seen me angry before.

'Snuggles back down!' I ordered her as I limped closer to her. Snuggles gave a hiss before screeching in my direction. The screech attack made all the Pokemon in the area give a shudder. Nugget gave his war whistle and jumped to stand next to me as I limped closer to Snuggles.

'Snuggles this is your last warning. BACK DOWN!' I yelled at her. Snuggles shot a lightning spark past my legs as she gave another defiant screech. Before she noticed I kicked my foot under her ankles, sweeping her off her feet. She landed on her side before I put my bad foot on her side to pin her there. The rubber on the bottom of my hiking boots protecting me from the electrical charges that she tried to unleash at me as she screamed angrily.

'Snuggles shut up for two seconds!' I snapped at her. Snuggles stopped and looked up at me with a glare. I think she was trying to use leer against me, but it didn't work. I pointed at Hank who was looking at me horrified. He was probably worried that I was going to hurt his pokemon.

'Hank is your master! I am Hank's mate. If you screw with Hank's authority then I screw with you. YOU ARE NOT THE ALPHA HERE! Every time you act like this you make Hank worry that you don't love him anymore. Hank loves you Snuggles and you are hurting him by not listening to him. You are a baby. If Hank tells you to do something it is for a very good reason so you BETTER BLOODY LISTEN TO HIM! GOT IT?' I growled my words as Snuggles while she was stuck under my foot.

While I spoke her lightning died down. She looked down submissively before starting to cry. That was the Snuggles that Hank and I knew and loved. I took my foot off her side. 'STATOR!' Snuggles sobbed loudly. 'If you still love Hank then you better show him and tell him Snuggles. Hank is very sad right now…' I said to Snuggles in a softer tone this time.

Snuggles looked like she was in shock. I don't think she had considered how it hurt Hank when she tried to be the dominant one while also using him as a safety blanket.

Snuggles sniffled and looked up at Hank. Hank knelt down and held his arms out for Snuggles. Hank looked at Snuggles with an expression of worry. I knew Hank didn't like to see Snuggles sad like that, but it was a necessary evil to heal the bond between them. Little sparks of static bounced off her fluffy feathers and she scrambled to her feet. Once her feet were under her she jumped into Hank's arms for cuddles while she cried. 'Tor! St-st-st-st-st-stat-t-t-t-t-tor!...' She sobbed and stuttered into him. Hank cuddled her close and smiled a little.

Hank gave me a curious look. I shrugged as I looked at him with a sheepish grin. 'Shit! Remind me to never fuck you over. That was frightening and that means something coming from me…' said a shocked Janice who had watched it all from the front porch.

Hank chuckled and stood up while he cuddled the snuffling Snuggles. She was beginning to calm down after being silently forgiven for her aggressive outburst. 'Janice… Milo is one of the most violent people that I know. She beat the shit out of two whole classes of students when I first entered the banishment world and enrolled in her High school.' Hank told her with a sheepish smile.

'You did what now?' Janice asked as she looked at me shocked. I shrugged and rolled up my sleeves. 'They were picking on Hank because he was depressed and didn't talk to anyone. I know now why he was depressed but back then I just assumed that he was like me and had given up on the human race as a collective of dick heads and snobs.' I responded casually like it was nothing.

Janice just looked at me wide eyed before turning around and walking back into the house. Mandy and Clyde also silently slipped into the house, leaving only myself and Hank outside with our pokemon.

'Nice flower crown Odd. I like it.' Hank said to her with a smile as he looked her over, noticing something different about her. 'Farig!' Odd announced happily.

I noticed movement from the corner of my eye. I looked at the edge of the house. Peeking around the corner was a shy beedrill. 'Come out Tilly. It is safe now!' Hank called the shiny beedrill. 'Tilly?' I asked looking at Hank. 'I was going to name her Teal, but Ceilica misheard me and started calling her Tilly instead. It seems to have stuck. I don't mind. Tilly is a cute name.' Hank said to me with an amused smile while he cuddled Snuggles to his chest.

'Can I get a hand over here!' Mrs Williams demanded from the back of the car. 'Oh! Oh… the clothes…' I groaned. Tilly slowly approached us. 'Come here Tilly. Help this old Lady carry some bags!' Mrs Williams called her expectantly. Tilly looked at Hank a little confused but listened to Mrs Williams' instructions.

'Ma didn't you catch a pinsir for exactly this purpose?' Hank asked in a teasing tone. 'Oh shoot!' She said suddenly remembering. She took out her park ball and released her pinsir. 'Angus! Help Tilly here to take the bags inside. Kyuubi will show you the way. Kyuubi is the ninetales.' Mrs Williams instructed to the two Pokemon as she released June. 'June be a dear and go boil the kettle for me! I will be in in a moment to start cooking dinner.' Mrs Williams said before she looked at hank and I.

Mrs Williams waited for the Pokemon to unpack the back of the car and go back into the house before speaking. 'Hank has Lee send your PokeGear yet?' Mrs Williams asked in a blunt and unimpressed tone. 'He sent them express post today. They should be here tomorrow with the morning paper.' Hank answered her.

'Good! Once you have your PokeGear you can open a PC account and catch as many of whatever you want. Not only this but you can hound our region professor to increase your carry slots for a price. If the stinking Chairman of Pewter Museum won't do it then he will.' She said with her hands on her hips as she looked up at Hank.

'Now that is a good idea. But I don't want to bully Elm. He hasn't done anything wrong by me.' Hank said with a mused tone. 'Huh…' I gave a surprised sound. 'What?' Hank asked as he looked at me. 'I wasn't expecting the franchise in the "banishment world" to be so accurate with names. Places yes but… the real names of the regional professors? I thought they would go by an alias.' I said as I looked at Hank.

Hank only shook his head. 'No. The Pokemon Franchise was set up by someone who was informed by a group who were banished from this world. They used all the real names of the league champions and gym leaders of the time and the professors. Expect them all to be at least twenty years older than what you are imagining.' Hank explained to me calmly.

'What are you talking about?' Mrs Williams asked us a little confused. 'In the banishment world… where I am from. Pokemon are a pop culture product. They have their own video games, manga and anime series still in the making.' I explained to her. She looked at me with her brows rissen like she couldn't believe that her world was a pop culture fantasy in my world.

'Is that how you know how to read the Ruins of Alph hieroglyphs?' she asked me in a quiet urgent tone. 'Yeah… don't tell the Chairman but most Pokemon nerds like myself from the "banishment world" can read those hieroglyphs. It isn't something new or uncommon. Some of the hardcore fans even use it as a not-so-secret code to talk to each other in letters.' I explained quietly to Mrs Williams. 'I won't be telling that arboc anything of the sort!' She snapped at me before hurrying inside.

Hank looked at me with a smile. 'Are you ok to walk inside? You looked like you are limping a little less now that you have some strength in those legs again.' He asked me with an encouraging smile. 'We will see. If I need help you know who I am going to call!' I said with a chuckle and a wink in his direction. 'Yeah, you will call Alph to teleport you right to the couch.' Hank teased with a laugh.

I couldn't help but laugh too. Odd stepped up to my side and let me lean on her to walk into the house after Hank went inside with Snuggles in his arms. Nugget followed close at my heels. The weight of my yanma's poke ball was starting an ache in my pocket. I so wanted to just let her out to stretch her wings.

I decided that tomorrow morning would be the best start for letting her out to begin her training. For tonight I would leave her in her ball. I needed rest to be able to deal with the new baby Pokemon with a level head.


	16. Chapter 16

Black Lightning Chapter 16

'Uncle Hank! The morning paper is here and your parcels!' I was woken up by Cecilia's excited voice and the sound of her running up the hall way past my bedroom door. I groaned and rolled over in bed. I rubbed my eyes before opening them. I stared at the wall paper covered in little sunkern and oddish while I contemplated the events of yesterday.

Yesterday had been eventful. Pokemon training, catching the yanma (who I still had to name and gain their trust) and one crazy shopping spree that was more like a game of dressups. I had enjoyed yesterday but it had knocked me out and put me into a deep and heavy sleep.

I yawned before letting my eyes roam to the floor.

There was a pile of shopping bags in the corner of the room next to the desk. Mounted on the wall above the pile of shopping bags was a wooden display case. I don't know how I didn't notice it before. Behind the glass I could see two rows of eight badges and a League pin. They were covered in dust after all the years of sitting untouched. Nailed along the bottom of the display case hung multiple medals from competitions.

In the middle of the room was a round woven rug. The rug had a fringe all the way around that was a soft cream colour. The rug itself was a spiral pattern of cream and blue. Curled up in the middle of this rug Nugget was snoring softly.

I slowly sat up to get out of bed. My feet hit something bristly but soft before they could touch the floor. I quickly tucked my feet back up in bed before looking over the edge.

Odd was laying next to the bed on her side. Her legs were curled against her body as though she had been sleeping on her belly. The head on her tail was wide awake and watching me expectantly. I reached out and patted it on the top of the head where it couldn't reach me to bite me if it wanted to. It ground its teeth and smiled like it was enjoying the attention. Odd gave a sigh in her sleep. 'Giraaaah….' She mumbled in her sleep. I looked up near her main head with a smile.

Her head was at a strange angle. I leant over the edge of the bed to see that Odd was using a yellow and brown spotted egg as a pillow. She must have had it in the middle of the night. I smiled and let her sleep. She looked exhausted.

I very carefully got out of bed, stepping over Odd without touching her, silently wincing in pain. I got dressed in my new trainer gear. Gracie had picked out what looked like a simple black t-shirt for me. When I put it on it seemed to shrink to hug my body like a second skin. It was laced with a special material that resisted electricity while also being breathable and aerodynamic. Apparently it was also quick dry.

I had a new pair of beige heavy duty cargo pants made from similar material. It was designed to have three belts on it. A poke ball belt, a utility belt for survival tools and another belt space for anything extra. It was covered in pockets down the legs and had zips around the thighs so that if there was a need the legs could be removed to make shorts. Apparently this was also quick dry material.

I had also gotten new hiking boots, and belts. I put on the pokeball belt and then the utility belt. I took out the new dark leather overcoat to cover the whole outfit. I decided to not wear it inside. I would probably take it with me to my morning physio session at the lake after breakfast. I grabbed my three poke balls and clicked them onto my ball belt. I quickly ran my fingers through my hair to smooth out some of the mess it was in before putting it up into a ponytail.

I very quietly slipped out of my room to let my Pokemon sleep, but left the door ajar so they could come out after they woke up.

I was met at my bedroom door by Kyuubi. He was sitting and waiting for me expectantly. I looked down at him while he watched me with his red eyes. He stood up and walked around me to stop at my side so I could lean on him while I walked to the dining room.

Cecilia and Hank were eating breakfast together already, with a newspaper between them. Cecilia had a red crayon in her hand and was circling certain adds in the paper like she was a job seeker. 'Good morning woah…' Hank greeted me with a smile before looking at me surprised. 'What?' I asked Hank as I pulled a chair out opposite him to sit down.

The table was set for everyone. In the middle of the table were a few boxes of assorted cereal, boiled eggs, milk, toast, juice and a range of spreads for breakfast. My stomach gave a small growl as I reached for the packet of some kind of high fibre cereal.

'You look good in that.' Hank said as he looked away and cleared his throat. Cecilia looked up and smiled at me. 'Morning Aunty Milo. We are looking for venonat to love forever and ever!' Cecilia greeted me before announcing. I smiled at her morning enthusiasm while I poured myself a bowl of this strange cereal. 'That sounds like fun. Any good candidates in there?' I asked her. 'Mhmm!' she hummed happily, going back to the newspaper to read the adds. She was a girl on a mission and had no time for idle chatter. While she read she nibbled on what was left of her toast.

Hank smirked at me across the table. He had already finished eating. I gave a comfortable shrug under his gaze before I started to eat. Hank shook his head at me silently and took a package off his lap before sliding it across the table at me.

'Doctor Smith, I present you with your brand new PokeGear.' Hank said to me highly amused that I had misunderstood his smirk. I looked at the box curiously. I didn't bother opening it yet though. I wanted to eat first. 'Not opening it?' Hank asked with a smirk. 'Can't, eating! You open it.' I retorted while I watched him. I quickly put another spoon of milk and cereal in my mouth.

Hank shrugged and opened up the box. He took out a PokeGear that looked like a smartphone. It had a slot on the bottom of the screen that opened like a draw and then folded open into a miniature keyboard. Hank placed it on the table between us before taking out a custom made case leather case for it.

The case clipped onto it like a phone case. It had a flap that closed over the main screen to protect it. The leather was dark brown and had an embossed shape of a Stator imprinted on it along with my full name and title along the bottom including my soon-to-be new name.

Hank put the gear into its case and tucked the keyboard away before sliding it over to me across the table. 'It's the latest version.' He said in a matter of fact tone. 'Good…' I said before eyeing the gear suspiciously. 'Something on your mind?' Hank asked me. I just gave a silent nod but didn't verbalise the answer. I continued to eat my breakfast in a brooding manner. Hank looked like he was about to question me but another sound cut him off.

A loud yawn echoed into the room. I looked up to see Clyde. I looked at him pointedly which made him pause where he was. 'What?' He asked, suddenly waking up. He looked like he was worried that he was in trouble. I didn't want to speak out loud but I needed to for a moment. 'Cecilia can I please borrow your crayon and a page of the newspaper?' I asked her quietly. 'Yep!' Cecilia said, trying her best to make the popping sound but not quite getting it. I couldn't help but smile a little at that.

Cecilia handed me a page of the newspaper that she considered unimportant. I held my hand out for the crayon. Cecilia placed it in my hand. I waved Clyde over to me before starting to write. "I want you to make sure my PokeGear is not bugged. If it is, scramble it so that Pewter Museum can't eavesdrop on me or track me" I wrote to Clyde before looking at him pointedly.

It had occurred to me last night that PokeGear didn't take THAT long to program and give to their respective trainer. I suspected Lee of foul play. Especially because of how long it took him to get such an important part of technology to me that should have been no more than a ten minute job. Clyde only gave me a silent nod as he picked up my PokeGear and took it back to his bedroom.

Hank read my message to Clyde upside down. 'OH! Shit!' He said before standing up to hurry and take Clyde his PokeGear also. 'Shit is a bad word Uncle Hank!' Cecilia called after Hank. 'Sorry!' Hank called to Cecilia as he knocked on Clyde's bedroom door. I could only chuckle a little. 'Looking forward to a day with Uncle Hank?' I asked Cecilia.

'Yes! Once Daddy fixes your PokeGear Uncle Hank is going to call these people and see if they still have a venonat. I think I picked the best ones!' Cecilia told me the plan while she looked at all the adds that she had circled with her red crayon. I handed the crayon back to her with a smile.

'Are you coming with us Aunty Milo?' Cecilia asked. 'Maybe. I need to do my special exercises at the lake to help my leg to get better.' I told her. 'Oh… ok. That is ok! Maybe next time.' Cecilia said as though to reassure me more than herself. She must have thought that I was missing out. I did feel like I was missing out a little but I had to put my health first.

I considered telling Cecilia about Odd's egg but soon decided against it. It was Odd's news to tell and right now I was happy to let her sleep in.

'Stator?' I heard a little groggy voice call me. 'In the dining room Nugget!' I called out. I watched as Nugget sleepily came into the dinning room and come over to me. He rested his head on my lap with a chirp. I stroked the crest on his head lovingly.

My train of thought was suddenly disturbed by the sounds of beeping from multiple PokeGear in the other room. 'That's not fair!' I heard Mandy's voice suddenly pipe up. Her vocal tone sounded very distressed and upset. Her tone also told me that she wasn't confused either. Those three words from her were bright, hurt and clear she perfectly understood whatever message it was that had come through on the PokeGear.

The mood in the house suddenly felt very ominous. For reasons that I couldn't explain I could feel my heart start to sink. Something was very suddenly very wrong.

'ALPH!' Janice screamed from outside. The front door opened with a loud crash and Janice ran into the house. 'KYUUBI! ALPH?' She called them, almost frantic. 'Janice?' I asked looking at her. Janice looked at me. Janice's expression changed from shock to a sudden dark seriousness. She had her game face on.

'What's wrong Aunty Janice?' Cecilia asked her in a worried tone. 'Someone will explain later. Milo get your team together and meet me at the front of the house.' Janice said to me urgently. Kybuui entered the dining room with a silence that chilled me for a moment. Kyuubi's attention was on Janice.

I got up to my feet as quickly as my healing knee would let me. Whatever it was, it was urgent. 'Doing that now. Clyde! How long before the PokeGear is ready?' I called to Clyde.

'It's almost done!' Clyde called back. Hank came out of Clyde's room with a frown on his face. 'Ma!' Hank called out. 'Kitchen!' I heard Mrs Williams call back. I let Hank storm passed me to find his mother in the kitchen. 'Cecilia I have a favour to ask you… come with me.' I said to her as I limped to my room.

Cecilia got down off her chair and followed me into the bedroom. She left her unfinished breakfast behind and the newspaper.

When we entered the room we found Odd packing my backpack. She had moved her egg onto the bed where it wouldn't roll off. Cecilia gave a little gasp and rushed over to the bed to pick up the egg and gently hold it. 'Cecilia can you look after the egg for a little while?' I asked her.

Cecilia looked up at me with wide frightened eyes and nodded. She hugged the egg to her chest protectively while she looked up at me. 'Milo! Hurry up!' Janice called me from outside.

Odd picked up my leather overcoat by the collar and stepped over to me to hand it to me. I took the coat and put it on. Then I put the backpack on. Odd gave me her shoulder and helped me outside.

Nugget stood outside waiting for me with Janice, Clyde, Kyuubi and Alph. Mandy was hugging Clyde tightly before she let go and backed away to the front door. 'Hank! Come on!' Janice yelled at him. 'Milo get Nugget and Odd in their balls and come here.' Janice ordered. Cecilia came to stand next to Mandy. She was still hugging Odd's egg.

I nodded dumbly and returned Nugget and then Odd. I limped over to stand with the group. Hank burst outside and gave a sharp whistle. The whistle was returned by Butane's whinny and the sound of hooves on hard ground. Hank was pulling his own overcoat on when he burst out the door. He had his backpack in his hand and pulled Butane's green poke ball out. I could see under the overcoat the Hank had quickly thrown on his own emergency survival gear.

As soon as Butane was close enough Hank returned him. 'Let's go!' Hank said in a tone of finality. 'Go where?' I asked. The last thing that I saw was Mrs Williams coming out to the front porch to watch us leave.

No one answered me. 'Alakazam!' Alph said sharply before we were all teleported into a large room.

The floor was polished black marble tiles. The walls were covered in tall tapestries of ancient Pokemon in armour. Lining the walls at even intervals were white marble pillars. The ceiling was very high up. On the ceiling was a painted mural of a Pokemon battle field.

In front of us stood the Elite Four of Kanto and Johto and a middle aged man in ceremonial military uniform. He was covered in medals. All of them had grim expressions on their faces and they were all tense.

'We would like to thank you for being so prompt in answering the summons. You are the first to arrive. You can wait here for the rest of the summoned trainers and other important persons to arrive or you can make your way to our first battle room to get your briefing before everyone else so you can leave and begin preparations.' said a man who I assumed was Koga. He had short black spiked hair and a red scarf around his neck.

'Let's get this over with. We have things we need to do.' Janice said in a blunt and agitated tone. She stepped forward with a hand on her hip. I nodded, agreeing with her. Hank and Clyde also stepped forward.

I couldn't help but notice that a few of them were looking at me. I must have been the only one there that none of them had seen. This made a little sense. Janice and Hank were both Champions. If they were involved in the league then I had a feeling that lyde would have been a registered member and involved too. I was like the new kid in the class.

The purple haired one stepped forward. 'I will brief you on why you are here. For the sake of the one who has never met me before I am Will. Please follow me.' Will introduced himself to me but quickly moved the conversation along to business.

Hank sidestepped to be next to me to wrap an arm around my waist. I put my arm over his shoulders, appreciating the support to walk with the rest of the group as they followed Will to the first battle room. While we walked Hank handed me my debugged PokeGear. I tucked it into the pocket of my overcoat for now.

Will wore a red tailcoat suit with a 1700s style french collar. He also wore a black masquerade mask over his eyes. The anime did nothing to show off his smart appearance. His hair looked like it was naturally a soft violet purple. He had an almost blank expression on his face while he lead us to the battle room. Will had a very strong presence about him, which I guess made senese. He was a psychic type trainer and one of the Elite Four. I had a feeling that the games didn't really compliment his team much or their true strength either.

Will stood to the side and used his own psychic abilities to hold the door open for us. He stood to the side until we all walked past him into the room. The battle room was just as large as the main hallway but it wasn't as decorated. The floor seemed to be polished concrete and the walls were empty, almost industrial styled.

We lined up and waited for Will to enter. Will walked into the room and shut the door behind himself. 'Before we begin. Everyone please release your pokemon. We want them to hear this also.' Will said calmly to us.

Clyde went first. He released Splash and Screechy into the room. Screechy flew up into the air and did a circle of the room while Splash coiled herself behind Clyde to wait for further instructions. Screechy then landed to perch on top of Splash's head.

Janice then stepped forward. She released Chompy, Fish, Jeckel, Pearl the Poliwrath, a dustox, an Alolan Sandslash, Honchkrow, Infernape, and a Venusaur. Will didn't look surprised by the extensive team that Janice carried on her at all times. Janice's team all lined up and waited at attention.

Hank gave a hesitant sigh before he released Butane, Tilly and lastly Snuggles. Butane stood still at attention. Tilly gave a shy buzz and tried to hide behind myself and Hank. Snuggles looked around curiously and approached Will with a warning growl as she sniffed at him. Will narrowed his eyes at Snuggles in warning but didn't move. 'Snuggles, come here…' Hank said to her quietly. Snuggles looked back at Hank and decided to actually listen to him this time. She went and stood between Butane's legs and waited.

Will looked at me. It was my turn. 'Odd come out, you too Nugget.' I called them. I didn't even bother taking their pokeballs off of my belt as they zapped themselves out of their own poke balls. I did take the park ball off my belt with a worried frown. 'Come out!' I said as I pointed the park ball away from myself.

In a flash of red light the yanma formed on the floor. She looked around and with a loud buzz shot to the other side of the room to stick herself to the wall as far away from us as possible. 'Please Excuse her. I only caught her yesterday and we haven't had a chance to work together yet.' I said to Will with a sigh. Will only gave me a slight nod before clearing his throat.

'In five days it will be announced that Kanto and Johto are at war with Kalos. It was mutually agreed by both sides that we would have a short time to warn our respective champions and prepare them for what was to come. As some of you know the tensions between Kalos and Kanto and Johto together have been rising. The tensions are mostly between the major business' rather than the actual politicians and Champions running the region. This is why there is a future date for the war to actually start rather than it being announced immediately. I'm sure you know how some business' are with their schedules and booking meetings.' Will said to us. He paused a moment to see if we were all following along.

Will's attention snapped to Janice and he answered a silent question that must have been buzzing in her mind before she could voice it. 'The major business' paid the remaining, living politicians to agree to let them go to actual war. The opposing sides behind this war have already killed most of those in power who were opposed to them. The League can only do so much to stop them. Especially when there are so many supporters funding it. We already fear this will be worse than the last time we went to war with Kalos over resources following the global crop failures where eighty percent of all crops globally died under suspicious circumstances.' Will explained to us.

I frowned as I turned the information over in my head. Will then looked at me curiously. 'We can't just go and kill every one who wants to start this senseless, legal killing spree. We don't know who exactly is behind it yet. All we can determine so far is that it was a joint effort and it obviously benefits some of the major companies in all regions concerned.' Will said calmly. His face showed traces of disgust. 'We don't know WHICH major companies are involved yet.' Will added on at the end.

'Do you know who will be stationed where yet?' Clyde suddenly asked before Will could sense his question. 'One moment please. I have the list here.' Will said as he reached into his tuxedo jacket and pulled out his own PokeGear. He opened it up and started tapping on the screen. I could see him scrolling through information.

'Janice, you will be sent to Kalos to stop any of their trainers or weapons from getting here. The sooner that you leave the better. Once this thing starts we don't expect it to stop for a few years. It says here that Alph and Kyuubi will be sent with you. We are going to allow your carry capacity to be how ever many ball magnets you can practically cover your whole body in. We want as many of your team over there with you as physically possible. There will be several other champions sent with you. Unfortunately, some of our spies already suspect that some unknown Kalos assassins are already here waiting for the war to start.' Will said calmly as he read from his screen.

'I will send you the details now.' Will said again after a few moments of silent tapping on his screen. A second later Janice's PokeGear gave a sound and she took it out to read it. 'Am I dismissed? I need to go. I have several loose ends to deal with before my deadline.' Janice asked now suddenly eager to go. Will gave her a silent nod. 'Everyone return!' Janice called them. Her whole line of Pokemon standing at attention turned into a flash of red light and returned themselves with out Janice needing to raise a finger.

Alph and Kyuubi let Janice leave alone. Janice slipped out the door and left. The rest of us looked at Will.

'Clyde. You are an important member of Silph Co. Your research and inventory of tools to use as defence will be invaluable. You will stay in Goldenrod City for work, but I do suggest you move your family to the countryside where there is less risk of them being bombed in an attack. I suggest that you give your company xatu daily visits to determine when the safest time for you to be at work or at home will be.' Will said as he read off the screen before he looked at Clyde. Clyde nodded and frowned to show that he understood Will's reasons for these instructions.

'Will is there any mention of lowering the legal age for children to own Pokemon to use in the war effort yet?' Clyde asked. That question spiked my interest and I looked at Will who clenched his jaw. 'Only for special cases. We have sent several of our gym leaders out already to various schools to test those under ten. The most skilled of these children above the age of four will be granted license to become Pokemon trainers early and given their starter pokemon.' Will explained.

'Cecilia could have a whole team in less than five days…' I said quietly. Will, Hank and Clyde all looked at me. 'What do you mean?' Will asked. 'I can show you footage from yesterday. We had a family outing to the Johto national park for the bug catching contest. My daughter borrowed my gyrados for the competition… Look…' Clyde said to Will as he stepped forward with his PokeGear.

Clyde showed Will the footage of Janice and Cecilia's battle with the beedrill and then the nincada swarm. Will watched it with an impressed expression. 'Before you ask we let her keep the nincada that she placed in second with for the competition. Splash here also readily listens to her commands and follows her lead even though she is just a child.' Clyde explained to Will.

'With just this footage and your acceptance we can grant her her trainer license and everything that it comes with. She could be a valuable part in protecting your hometown. We wouldn't post her in a major city with a large target on it, but she would play a valuable role as a guard somewhere. If you could please go back to the main hall and show this to Agatha, she will get that licence started and the PokeGear ready so that nincada can be registered.' Will explained to Clyde before instructing him to leave the room.

Clyde returned Screechy and Splash. Clyde gave Will a curt nod before also exiting the room out the door that Janice went out.

I noticed that the yanma had started to sneak her way closer to all of us after realising that we were not going to chase her or hurt her. I also saw her looking at the door that Clyde and Janice had left out of.

'Hank…' Will said as he looked back to his PokeGear again. 'Soon to be married, placed an offer on a property on route Thirty-two. We can't rush your wedding but we can pay out the legal fees to rush the sale and help the other person into a home faster so you can at least own your new house before the war starts.' Will said more to himself while he looked through Hank's information.

'Carry capacity four and PC privileges denied. That is not right. I am going to increase you to ten and revoke the legal application that denies you the right to the PC use. Done. I suggest you get married before the five days are over, catch and train as many Pokemon as is sensible for your work and to defend yourselves and get ready for the worst. People and Pokemon are going to die and we don't know how soon we can put the breaks on the bloody ride.' Will warned Hank.

Hank gave a sharp nod. Hank's jaw was tight. I knew that he knew that Will spoke truth. He grew up during a war and lost his father to it.

'Where will he be stationed?' I asked looking at Will. 'He will be with you. It says here in your record that you can understand the Ruins of Alph Hieroglyphs. As soon as you are able to we want you to get into those ruins to try and find a way to defend both of our lands. Every region has a secret weapon or a secret way to defend themselves. No one has cracked the ruins code to figure out what exactly it is that Johto has. We will give you a list of what we need from both of you. You will get updates as we need certain information. We ask that you do not disclose your findings to the Pewter Museum as we want the findings to remain secret for now and we can not guarantee that the Pewter Museum is not a guilty party in this war. Again I suggest that you catch more Pokemon and train them as much as possible. Kalos has better technology than us and I have foreseen that their troops will come here to try and overthrow the entire region.' Will said in a grim tone while he addressed me.

I could feel my jaw clench as I nodded. I looked at Hank. 'Dress shopping for you today while I get a new venonat with Cecilia. Hens and Bucks night tonight overnight. Tomorrow evening Wedding. Day after Alolah honeymoon. The day after back here to sign the final papers for our house before we move in and wait for the news to hit the rest of the world. Easy.' Hank said as he looked at me with a strained smile. 'That doesn't sound rushed at all!' I said with a roll of my eyes and a voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Stick with that plan, it will work.' Will said with a sigh before he looked through my file again. 'I will also grant you PC privileges and we need to make sure that your Girafarig and Yanma are definitely registered to you.' Will said calmly. 'We also need to do something about that leg.' He added as he looked at me.

'What are you thinking?' I asked Will as I narrowed my eyes. I had a gut feeling that he had an idea that was unorthodox.

Will made an empty pokeball float up out of his back pocket. It levitated over to Alph. 'Oh… ok that makes sense.' I said as I looked at Alph with the poke ball. I was reminded of childhood rumours about angry alakazam catching their trainers and storing them in the PC for eternity just because they didn't like them. Alph looked at me and flooded my mind with reassurance. I was glad that he actually like me. I had also noticed that Will trusted Alph to be the one to do what I thought was about to happen.

'Will does that even work?' Hank asked in a very concerned tone. 'Yes it does. It is considered illegal unless in emergency situations or with very good reason. But it does work a treat. Right now we are preparing for war and a new member of our intelligence division is lame. Pardon me Dr Smith but we need you to be able to run and walk again without any issues.' Will said in a calm matter-of-fact tone while he looked at his PokeGear. I assumed that he was looking through what little data there was available about me.

I nodded dumbly. If I didn't have such a strong attachment to Hank I possibly would have developed a crush on the psychic type trainer of the elite four. He was very insightful, even though he came off as aloof and rough around the edges he seemed to actually genuinely care. I saw Will look at me surprised and blush a little.

'Pardon?' He asked me a little dumbfounded. Shit! He must have heard that. 'Sorry.' I apologised and cleared my throat. 'Shall we get this over with?' I asked trying to cover where my mind may or may not have just gone.

Hank shrugged against me for me to stand on my own two feet. I unclasped my ball belt and handed it to Hank before turning to face Alph with the pokeball. Alph watched my eyes. I could feel him flooding my mind with calm. I let out a slow breath as I closed my eyes, letting Alph soothe me.

I felt the ball hit my stomach before a tingling sensation covered my whole body. It tickled a little before I fell into a state a little bit like sleeping. I could hear everything happening outside but I couldn't respond to it. It all felt like a soft warm and fluffy dream.

I could still feel the pain from my leg but I was put into a blissful state where I just didn't care. I was happy to just rest with it.

So this is what it felt like to be in a poke ball. I didn't know where or when I was going to get out but I trusted that Alph wouldn't leave me there forever. I wondered if I could get transferred through a PC like a Pokemon now. Would this be a new way to travel the globe undetected? It was a curious thought that could be very useful but also extremely risky.

I could still feel Alph in my mind giving me constant reassurance. I was grateful for Alph's presence in my mind. I simply relaxed and waited.


	17. Chapter 17

Black Lightning Chapter 17

Sources:

Lockheed Ah-56 Cheyenne:  stories/what-might-have-been-lockheeds-ah-56a-cheyenne/

I don't know how much time went past or what happened but I was standing again before everyone. Alph was holding the poke ball that he had caught me in. Will was standing next to a healing machine. Hank stood next to Butane, Odd, Snuggles and Nugget. Tilly was shyly hiding behind Hank. I couldn't help but notice that the yanma was perched on top of Odd's head.

One of them must have convinced her that I wasn't such a bad person. Maybe Odd got into her head and now she was not trying to escape any more. I didn't know the reason but I was glad that yanma wasn't trying to escape everyone out of fear.

I noticed that I wasn't in pain any more. I looked down and shifted my weight from one foot to the other before walking on the spot for a moment. It was better. My leg was better, completely better!

I looked up at the group again with a big dumb grin. 'It's better! I'm better again!' I said to them. Hank grinned back at me and held his arms out. I laughed and with a hop-skip and a jump tackle hugged him. Hank caught me and spun me around once before setting me down on my feet again.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around in Hank's embrace. Alph had tapped me on the shoulder. He held the poke ball up to me. I paused a moment before slowly taking the ball. 'Best Alakazam ever Alph! I hope the rest of the family appreciate you as much as I do right now.' I said to him with a chuckle. Alph only shook his head. 'Kazam!' He scoffed before laughing silently.

I heard Will politely clear his throat with a quiet grunt. I looked to him with a smile. 'Thank you! I hope I don't get you into trouble for this.' I said, feeling a little guilty if I had gotten him into trouble.

Will then did something that I was totally unprepared for. He gave me a cheeky grin and poked his tongue out at me. 'Me in trouble? No! I will just do the whole "but I'm the youngest here! I didn't know!" routine. Forget about it. Besides, I also have a secret poke ball registered to my DNA.' Will said with a wink.

I was suddenly getting a playful and cheeky vibe from him. He may have been a powerful trainer but he definitely had a sense of humour. Will was a well balanced man, even with the criminal history that he had. I couldn't help but smirk at him.

Will looked at me completely shocked now. 'H-how did you know about that?' He asked me. 'How did Milo know about what?' Hank asked. Hank was unphased by being left out of certain conversations. His father had been a psychic and Alph often singled out certain people to converse with in their own heads. To Hank this was the norm.

Will straightened up and cleared his throat nervously. 'My past.' Will said quietly. 'It's a secret.' I said teasingly. Will then looked at Hank with a playful grin. 'You better hold onto Milo tight. I might become interested in her romantically if she keeps surprising me like this. She is my type. Psychic and all.' Will said playfully to Hank with a serious undertone.

I could feel Hank tense a little while he laughed. 'Oh I don't intend on letting anyone take Milo away. She means way too much to me Will. Find your own woman with anger issues!' Hank said in the same tone that Will had just used.

It was my turn to clear my throat. 'Hank you have a date with Cecilia to find the perfect Venonat, AND you need to cut and mount that gem into my ring still. Not to mention your bucks night and then the wedding tomorrow evening. We still need to send invitations, buy all the poke food and prepare everything before the war is announced.' I reminded him.

Both men tensed up and suddenly remembered why we were there. Will sighed and shook his head before looking at both of us seriously. 'I wish you luck. We are done here. I need to get back to the main entryway to wait for the next group of who ever was summoned to turn up.' Will said as he gestured to his side with his hand for us to walk ahead to the exit.

I didn't know where that was. Hank let go of my waist but held one of my hands as he started walking ahead. I followed him enjoying being able to walk again. Behind us I heard our pokemon following us calmly. Will stepped up to walk with us.

'How many are going to the wedding tomorrow night?' Will asked curiously. 'Not many. The Chairman of the Pewter Museum, his son and his PA and my family. It's only going to be a small event.' Hank answered Will. 'I don't want to be rude but do you mind if I attend? I have some business that I need to conduct at the Lake of Rage.' Will asked.

I looked across to Will. He was looking at me before he pointedly looked behind us at Odd. 'She is a Lage of Rage Girafarig isn't she?' Will asked. 'Yes she is, why?' I asked Will. 'I have a summons to deliver to a Mr Angry Snooker. Apparently he lives in the mountains just north of the Lake of Rage, not far from the WIlliams' residence.' Will explained.

'Oh I don't mind if Hank doesn't. I find you to be far more pleasant than Lee… I'm not looking forward to him and Pooch being there.' I grumbled. 'Then why is he coming?' Will asked curiously. 'The Pewter Museum Chairman pretty much invited himself along with Lee as his plus one.' Hank said in an unimpressed tone.

'I see.' Will muttered while we walked. 'You can come Will, along with the rest of whoever from the Elite four of both regions wants to come. If you have the time. I will send you a formal invitation the first chance I get.' Hank said to Will. 'Thank you. I might turn up early to borrow Odd if you don't mind?' Will asked, more to me than Hank.

'To find Snooker? Sure. You don't mind do you Odd?' I asked looking over my shoulder. 'Rig!' Odd answered me verbally. I smiled a little at that. She sounded like she was happy to go on another adventure.

Will opened the door for us that lead us back to the main hall. I stepped through with Hank first, followed by our pokemon and then Will.

A growl ripped through the hall and bounced off the walls in a chilling echo that made my blood suddenly go hot. I looked in the initial direction of the growls.

Pooch! He was here with Lee. They must have both been summoned too. They had been waiting on their own. The other officials must have been busy with other summoned persons.

Pooch looked as mean and ugly as ever, minus one eye. 'Pooch… come at me again and I will poke out your other eye!' I threatened in a growl of my own. Pooch growled more and lowered himself ready to attack. I let go of Hank's hand and started to roll up my sleeves ready to fight the mightyena myself.

'Return!' Lee called Pooch. Pooch vanished in a flash of red light as Lee looked at me horrified. 'You were seriously about to pick a fight with Pooch?' He asked me looking more pale than normal. 'Yeah but now that Pooch isn't protecting you I might but beat the shit out of you myself you spineless cunt!' I snapped at Lee as I started to stalk towards him.

I felt Hank grab me from behind by the elbows and pull me to a stop but I still leant forward ready to beat Lee to a pulp while my rage was high. 'Psycho woman…' Lee spat at me now that Hank was holding me back.

'Psychic woman! Psychic! Not Psycho Lee. Though she is clearly angry.' Will corrected Lee in an amused tone. I looked at Will curiously, still leaning toward Lee, intent on beating him to a bloody pulp. Will smiled and shrugged before looking at me curiously. 'In all my years I have never seen any one openly challenge a pokemon to battle themselves rather than send their team out.' Will explained with a chuckle. He looked like he was quite entertained.

'Normally I would send out my team but I have a personal grudge against Lee and Pooch and I would rather have the satisfaction of beating them into goo myself.' I retorted to Will. Will smiled wider at that and then clapped me. 'When you get the chance I would love to battle someone like you.' Will said.

'Hey! You did!' Hank retorted almost letting me go. 'I beat Lee to a bloody pulp myself' Hank reminded Will. Will paused a moment before laughing and clapping again. 'You did too! Bravo Hank. Now if you will excuse me I need to give Lee Stone his briefing before he gets killed in battle by one of our own.' Will said while he laughed and quickly walked over to Lee.

'She isn't one of us. She is a fucking monster.' Lee said with much disgust. I glared at Lee, feeling Hank's hands slip a little on my elbows. 'Do you WANT me to let her go?' Hank asked Lee in a hard tone.

Will cut in before Lee could answer. 'Quickly! Quickly Mr Lee. She means business.' Will quickly walked Lee into the first battle room before he winked at me. Will shut the door and locked it with an audible click.

Slowly Hank let my elbows go. 'Sorry, I can't let you bring him to an inch of his life with witnesses around.' Hank said calmly. I let out a harsh huff and stopped pulling against Hank. I turned to face them slowly.

I was greeted by Hank's worried face and shock. Lots of shock. Hank's and my own Pokemon looked at me stunned by what they just saw. Alph was the only pokemon not shocked. Kyuubi was clearly surprised by my outburst but he recovered quicker than the others did.

I looked at Odd, Nugget and my unnamed yanma pointedly. 'I want you to know that I would never ask you to do anything that I myself am not willing to try and do myself. With this war that is coming we will all need to know how to fight. You guys are amazing. You have powers and abilities that I as a human do not. I am your weakest link in the chain but I am also your leader if you will still have me.' I addressed them. I was calm again for now.

The yanma hovered up off Odd's head. Odd and Nugget came up to me without hesitation. Odd licked my face with a happy bleat as Nugget chirped and nuzzled my shin. I smiled at their acceptance. I hugged Odd around the neck with one arm and reached down with the other to pet Nugget on his neck and over his shoulders.

I looked at the yanma feeling a little sad. I held my arm out to her that I had used to pat Nugget with. 'I will not hurt you. I want to trust you like one day you will hopefully trust me. I will do my best to protect you from everything bad that is going to come at us.' I said softly to the yanma.

She hovered in place for a moment before slowly approaching me in the air. I smiled when she landed on my wrist and looked at me closely. I felt that she didn't quite trust me yet, but she wasn't scared of me any more.

'I am going to name you Cheyenne. It is part of a name of a flying machine of war from where I am from. The building of them was decommissioned because they were too technologically advanced for their time. I hope that you grow up too advanced for any war to hurt you.' I said quietly to the yanma.

She looked at me a little confused. 'Milo she doesn't know what a war is.' Odd echoed in my mind. 'Lets pray she never knows what a war is… Cheyenne, thank you for choosing to stay with me.' I said to the yanma softly.

A door clicked open to the main hall. Clyde walked through the door with Agatha behind him. Clyde looked equal parts emotionally exhausted and excited. He had a package wrapped up with a tag hanging on it that read "Cecilia". It must have been Cecilia's beginner's kit. 'Are you guys ready to go home?' Clyde asked all of us.

'What about Janice?' I asked. 'She already left on Chompy.' Hank reminded me. 'Oh. I remember now.' I mumbled a little embarrassed. 'Alright everyone return.' Hank then said as an afterthought. Snuggles, Butane and Tilly all returned themselves.

'Ok. I guess everyone should return so we can go home.' I said copying Hank's actions for the moment. Cheyenne, Odd and Nugget all returned also. 'Is everyone ready?' Alph echoed outside of his mind to everyone.

We all looked around and then nodded to Alph. 'Alakazam!' Alph huffed as he teleported all of us back to the Williams' residence.

Clyde was the first one to run inside. 'Mandy! Cecilia! I'm home!' He yelled as he went in the front door, carrying Cecilia's package with him.

Hank and I both froze in place when we felt eyes looking at us. Mrs Williams was sitting on a wooden rocking chair on the front porch next to the front door, watching us. We both sighed in unison and relaxed again for the moment.

'Odd, Nugget, Cheyenne, you can come out again. We are home for the moment.' I called them softly. They all came out in a flash of red light. Odd eagerly walked into the house as Nugget stayed with me to see what would happen next. Cheyenne gave a buzz and then landed on my head to relax.

'Ma…' Hank called his mother with a sad voice. 'Did you all get conscripted?' She asked Hank. There was no beating around the bush. 'In short yes. Janice, Kyuubi and Alph are getting posted overseas. Clyde is to stay in Goldenrod. It has been advised that Mandy and Cecilia move to a less populated area. Milo and I have been sent to translate the ruins of Alph.' Hank said to her.

She slowly got up off the rocking chair and stepped down off the porch to walk over to us. Her brow was knit and her wrinkles showing with the bad news. 'When?' She asked. 'In five days. Janice has been called to go as soon as possible. They are allowing her to stay behind for the wedding, but I think after that she has to go.' I answered this time.

'It sounds like you have a date for the wedding!' She remarked as she crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't look impressed that we hadn't told her yet. 'We do. We decided the date while we were at the Indigo Plateau. The wedding will be tomorrow evening. Tonight we are doing our respective bucks night and hens party and the day after tomorrow, we will do a one night honeymoon in Alolah. Then we will be back to sign the papers for the house and settle in. That gives us two days before the war is announced and legally begins. We are not at war yet, we just know when it will start.' Hank said to her.

Mrs William's pressed her lips into a tight line. She looked angry, but she wasn't angry at Hank. 'So we are not at war yet? We just know it will start in five days is this correct?' She asked. 'Yes.' I answered this time. I could feel my heart sinking as the facts started to sink in.

'Who are we against this time?' She asked as she swallowed hard. 'Kalos.' Hank said quietly as he looked down at his feet with a pained expression. 'Ugh! Again! Fine. Right. We can't do anything about it so we best just get to business and get ready. We have five days. Last time we didn't get any time to prepare, there was no warning. The bombs just started dropping and that was it.' Mrs Williams said in a tone of finality.

Her words made Hank stand up tall with his chin up. 'Yes Ma'am!' Hank said to her before he looked at me. 'Milo you have to get your dress shopping out of the way before you get to the Safari zone. I will have my afternoon getting a venonat with Cecilia and then make your ring.' Hank said as he took the mood ring off my finger and started to go back into the house. I assumed that he took the mood ring so he knew what size to make his ring for me.

'Hank!' I called to him as he stepped up onto the porch. I stopped for a moment thinking of the right words before giving Hank a level stare. 'Adopt every free to good home Pokemon in the paper. Venonat included. If I remember correctly Venomoth can learn teleport. With Alph overseas we need a few Pokemon to replace him to get us around undetected and out of harm's way swiftly. If Mrs Williams doesn't mind working with Cecilia to level them all up as quickly as possible we might get at least one of them to evolve.' I said thoughtfully to Hank.

'All of them ALL OF THEM?' Hank asked in surprise for confirmation. I thought for a moment before nodding. 'Yes. We could have a network of eyes and ears watching out for us around the clock. Because they will be common pokemon any enemies already here won't think anything of them. We get our own team of spies and workers and the unwanted pokemon get a new home and a purpose. You have PC access now. You can get all of them without leaving the house. They can all get transferred to you digitally.' I pointed out to him.

I felt my head suddenly get grabbed and pulled down. Mrs WIlliams pulled me down to kiss my cheek before she looked across to Hank. 'This girl has her head screwed on tight! If we have our own mini army then Janice doesn't have to leave us any of her Pokemon to watch over us, she can focus on keeping herself alive.' Mrs Williams pointed out.

Hank looked between both of us, smirked slightly and nodded. 'Roger that. Adopting ALL the pokemon. Cecilia is going to love this!' Hank remarked with a chuckle before rushing into the house.

I looked at Mrs Williams with a small smile. 'They lowered the legal age to become a Pokémon trainer. Cecilia is now a fully licensed trainer.' I said to her calmly. Mrs Williams' face changed from surprise to brooding pride. 'That's my girl. She will do great and with the extra Pokemon to protect her I will worry less about her.' Mrs WIlliams remarked.

'That isn't the only good news!' I said happily. I lifted my once injured leg and bent it up before hopping on it. 'I'm all better!' I announced. Mrs Williams hugged me before slapping my arm with a scoffing sound. 'Woman you have a dress to go shopping for! Alph once she kidnaps Mandy from in the house I want you to teleport them both to Goldenrod immediately! They have work to do!' Mrs Williams commanded. 'Yes Iris,' Alph answered her out loud before he looked at me. 'You best collect Mandy and bring some sandwiches for us.' Alph then echoed to me out loud.

I looked at Alph with a smile and a nod before hugging him. 'Thank you Alph.' I thanked him before letting him go and running inside. 'Come on Nugget, lets get Mandy and make food!' I called him as I went into the house. Cheyenne held on to my head tightly.


	18. Chapter 18

Black Lightning Chapter 18

I ran into the house looking for Mandy with Cheyenne perched on my head and Nugget at my heels. 'Mandy?' I called out for her. I looked into each room as I passed. 'I'm out the back!' Mandy returned my call. She sounded a little distracted.

Nugget ran ahead of me with a playful chirp. Mandy was standing at the back door. She was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed while she watched Hank and Clyde with Cecilia. Cecilia was still holding onto Odd's egg with her nincada sitting on her head while Clyde showed her how to use her new PokeGear.

I stopped next to Mandy. 'I have a favour to ask.' I said to Mandy. I could feel her look at me curiously. 'I need help dress shopping do you think you could…' I didn't get to finish my sentence before an excited squeal burst my eardrums. 'YES!' Mandy said excitedly as she cut me off. I gave a nervous laugh while she jumped up and down on the spot, like a fangirling teenager.

'Good. Alph is waiting out the front to take us to Goldenrod. We need to pack lunch before we go though.' I said to her. 'Pack lunch? No, no, no! We are eating out for lunch. My treat, I insist!' Mandy said with a triumphant smile not letting me have an opinion or thought about it.

I could only shrug and smile. 'Ok then. Odd are you coming or are you staying with Cecilia and your egg?' I asked Odd who I had noticed not far from Cecilia. 'Stay!' Odd echoed in my mind. 'Hank!' I called Hank as I took Odd's poke ball off my belt and threw it to him. Hank caught her ball with a smile and gave me a wave before going back to helping Cecilia learn how to use the PokeGear.

'Hank!' I said to him again before he could focus too much on Cecilia and Clyde. He looked at me curiously. 'Don't forget to remind Cecilia to pack for tonight. We are going to the Safari Zone.' I said in a loud and clear voice. 'I got it. Go buy your nose bleed dress!' Hank said to me with a laugh.

Mandy took my hand and started dragging me to the front door where Alph and Mrs Williams were waiting. Nugget followed after us with an excited whistle his little claws clicking on the wooden floor boards.

'Alph we are eating out! Milo are you ready? Lets go!' Mandy said excitedly like a child. 'Wait a second!' I said with breathless laughter. I returned Nugget and Cheyenne before looking at Mrs Williams. 'Do we need to make reservations to do an overnight stay at the Safari Zone in Kanto?' I asked Mrs Williams. 'Yes you do. I will get onto that now. How many are going?' She asked me with a smile.

I could feel myself smirk. 'Janice, Mandy, Cecilia, YOU and myself. Girl's family night!' I said with a playful wink. Mrs Williams looked surprised that she was invited too. 'You want me to come to the hens night?' She asked me a little shocked.

'Umm YES! It will be child appropriate. Nothing crazy since I want Cecilia to come too. Also it is a great chance for us all to catch rare pokemon to get ready for what is to come. I'm thinking of going chansey hunting myself. I might even suggest that we find the hidden dratini lagoon while we are there.' I said to her with a grin.

I saw a glint spark in her eyes and she clapped her hands together. 'I have phone calls to make. Get that dress, have lunch and come straight back! We are losing daylight soldier!' Mrs Williams said with an eagerness that must have sparked in her after yesterday after she caught Angus, her new pinsir.

I laughed and looked at Alph. 'We are ready!' I said to Alph. Alph looked at Mandy who smiled. 'Take us to New Port Street on the corner of Oaksbroom Alley!' Mandy said with her chin up. Alph nodded to her and then we teleported.

We were teleported to the corner of a quiet alleyway. At one end of the alleyway was a high traffic and very busy street. Mandy was still holding my hand. She gave me a tug and started to pull me in the direction away from the busy street and into the darker part of the alleyway. Alph walked with us. It looked like he was going to come along for the trip.

Mandy took us down the cobbled alleyway and to a large old and rusted door. She pushed it open confidently and pulled me through. Alph continued to follow along behind us. Mandy had lead us into a fire escape. We didn't go up or down any stairs she lead us forward into the next door and let herself into the building.

What I saw through the doors made my eyes go wide. We were in a huge store. This floor was a PokeMart that looked like it was specialising in just potions and healing products for pokemon. In the middle of the ceiling was an open hole that showed many more floors above, all specialising in different products. This place had the same feeling to it as one of those large posh chain stores that sold everything at top dollar. It looked like a real status place where all the fancy ladies got all their best outfits for the horse races or something.

'Welcome back Manager Williams!' two of the staff greeted her in unison. Both wore bright and possibly fake smiles when they greeted Mandy. 'Hi girls! I'm going shopping!' Mandy greeted them with a grin.

Instead of continuing on Mandy stopped to talk to them. 'This is Milo. She is marrying my brother-in-law tomorrow night! She STILL hasn't got a dress! We need to fix this NOW. One of you call Carol and meet me on the eleventh floor in the bridal section.' Mandy ordered the girls.

'Yes Ma'am!' One of them responded as the other smiled a little tighter while looking me up and down with a judging gaze.

'Manager Williams should I bring refreshments up to the dressing rooms for your guest?' The other woman asked still standing there and eyeing me off in silent judgement. She is lucky that I was wearing my trainer gear and not the rags that I came in through the portal. They weren't just covered in dust, but blood, spit and tears too.

Since coming into this world and being around Alph my gut feelings had gotten stronger and sharper. Going through the portal must have really made me a psychic. I was able to read others emotions a lot clearer. I was nowhere near mastering this new skill but it was there.

'Refreshments would be great! Especially since I have no sense of style and you think that I am a lost cause. Luckily Manage Williams has enough love in her heart to try and teach me how to have a sense of style you judgy bitch. Get the refreshments!' I snapped at her. The girl visibly jumped at my words and looked at me stunned.

'Amanda! Were you thinking bad thoughts against my new sister? You shouldn't do that! You never know who is a psychic or an undercover cop or someone important trying to hide among the common people. You must think of everyone as celebrities no matter what they look like! Our customers are nidokings and nidoqueens. All of them!' Mandy scolded her. Several shoppers and other employees of the store had stopped to watch when they heard Mandy's voice raise.

The shop attendant scowled and looked down at her feet. 'Yes Manager Williams. I will try harder from now on. I will bring your refreshments right up. Is there anything else that I can do for you?' She asked while keeping her head bowed.

'Yes there is… if I may?' I asked looking at Mandy as I took Nugget and Cheyenne's pokeballs off my belt. Mandy looked at Alph and then at me with a smile. 'You may. I know they will behave.' Mandy said in a smart confidence that I hadn't seen in her yet.

I released Nugget and Cheyenne and then looked at Amanda. Nugget looked up at me curiously while Cheyenne hovered on the spot looking around at the store. It must have been quite spectacular for both of them to see.

'I want you to give these two the VIP treatment. Any toys, care items, food or accessories that these two want I want you to help them with, after you bring us our morning tea.' I said to her. She looked at Cheyenne and Nugget horrified before looking at me and then Mandy. I could hear Mandy's foot tapping on the polished floor. 'Yes Ma'am! I am at your service.' Amanda stuttered as she looked at Mandy dumbfounded by my request.

Mandy gave an excited squeak. 'Shopping for everyone! I love shopping!' Mandy giggled in her usual hairbrained way. Her love of shopping must have been what earned her the title of manager. I chuckled from mandy's excitement before looking at Nugget and Cheyenne.

'Cheyenne… Nugget. Both of you are to behave yourselves and stay together. Today is a special day and you can get whatever you like that the store has for sale. I also have a job for you. Since Odd cant be here and she is having a baby soon I want you to find something nice for her and the baby ok?' I said to both of my pokemon.

'Tor!' Nugget chirped as he lifted his head up and puffed out his chest in confirmation. Cheyenne landed on top of Nugget's head with a buzz while she looked at me. 'Yan!' She responded. 'Good. You may go.' I dismissed them before giving Mandy's hand a squeeze.

'Did you say the eleventh floor?' I asked Mandy. Mandy smiled at me as Amanda walked away with Nugget and Cheyenne following after her. I clipped their two pokeballs back onto my belt. 'Lets go!' Mandy said as she started to lead me to a tall glass pillar in the middle of the room.

The glass pillar was a huge aquarium full of goldeen, seaking, chinchou, lanturn and a few corsola. They swam around in circles in the huge glass aquarium pillar. In the middle of the aquarium it looked hollow. Mandy lead me up to it and pressed a button with an arrow pointing up. I looked up through the glass pillar and noticed that the inside of the huge aquarium were four elevators. All the way up the pillar was a star shape of platforms at the doors to the elevators. The platforms lead out to the various open floors of merchandise.

There was an elevator coming down to greet us. Inside the elevator was a trim young man in a conductor's uniform and a professional calm smile. The doors opened with a pleasant chime.

'Good morning Ma'am and Manager Williams. Which floor would you like?' The young man asked with a genuine smile. He looked like he enjoyed his job. He only had to press buttons and smile. He also got to sit inside of a giant aquarium with lots of calm fish pokemon swimming around him.

'Eleventh floor please Markus.' Mandy said to him with an excited smile as she dragged me into the elevator. Alph followed close behind us. The young man pressed the button for the eleventh floor. 'Who is your friend?' He asked as the doors closed. 'This is Milo. She is marrying my Brother-in-law tomorrow and of all the things she forgot to buy the dress while getting ready for the wedding!' Mandy said with a giggle.

Markus did his best to stifle a laugh as he looked at me. 'It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Milo. I hope that we have something that will be adequate to your taste and absolutely stunning enough to make your groom speechless.' He said to me with a slightly cheeky but genuine smile. 'Thank you. I hope so too. Usually he sees me covered in dirt and in old clothes.' I said with a shrug and a return smile.

Marckus gave me a curious look as the elevator doors shut and it slowly started to rise. 'It is because of her work. Milo is an archaeologist. She is the one who discovered that new Pokemon that has been all over the news the last few days!' Mandy cut in before I could respond. She looked very proud of me.

'Well… it is an honour to have you shopping with us. I'm certain that your Groom will be pleased to see the diamond in the rough that he knew was there all along.' Marckus said with equal parts professional smile and an impressed expression on his face. 'Thank you. I'm not sure what he saw in me but whatever it was, I am lucky to have him. Also you might get to meet one of those new Pokemon today. One of your coworkers is minding him for me. He will be with a small Yanma.' I said to him with a playful wink.

His eyes went wide with excitement. 'Wow! Really? There is a Stator in the store? I hope I get to see him. Congratulations Miss Milo and good luck.' He said to me as the elevator gave a chime and the doors opened. We were on the 11th floor now. 'Thank you for the lift!' I said with a laugh as Mandy pulled me along with her to the dress section of the floor.

The doors to the elevator closed and the elevator went up further. Alph followed with us, eyeing me with amusement. 'Oh hush Alph, if i have to suffer then you do too!' I thought to him while I followed Mandy. Alph only projected the sound of laughter into my mind.

Past the main dress section was an area that was closed off with thick red curtains. Mandy lead me into the closed off area. The whole space was lined with wedding dresses of all types in a large round room. In the middle of the room was a round raised platform. Around this platform was a circle of couches to sit and observe who ever was on the platform. To our right was a service desk and just past it a long row of large dressing rooms.

Mandy let go of my hand and went over to the service desk. 'Start looking for something Milo. I'm going to find out who isn't here at their post. They are in trouble!' Mandy said with a frown and a huff as she went over and started flicking through a folder on the service desk.

I looked at Alph feeling lost. 'Alph… help…' I thought to him quietly. Alph looked around and waved his hand. Several dresses lifted up off various racks. He had them slowly float around the middle of the room. 'Because I like you and I don't want you suffering more than you already are, all of these will fit you perfectly. You just need to pick the one that you are most comfortable with.' Alph echoed to me in my mind.

'Well I guess for now I will just pick what I definitely don't want.' I said out loud quietly. 'I will hold them up in front of you one by one. Tell me "no" or "maybe" and then we will go from there.' Alph echoed to me. He must have known what I was going to initially pick.

'I don't know what you are going to pick. There are two that you will be torn between but there are some variables that I will not interfere with. It has to be your choice.' Alph echoed into my mind. 'When did you become a Xatu?' I asked him playfully as I crossed my arms over my chest looking at him.

Alph flooded my mind with his amusement at my question. 'The next building has a Xatu who happens to be a good friend of mine. They gave me a sneak peek of your dress choice.' Alph explained to me. I gave a defeated sigh. 'Alright let's get this nightmare over with…' I grumbled.

'I'm here!' came a voice from behind me. 'Carol! There you are. Who is meant to be manning the desk here?' Mandy asked from the service desk. She was clearly unimpressed by the lack of organisation there.

I ignored the two of them and walked up to one of the dresses. 'No.' I said calmly and Alph made it float back to where it came from before he brought me the next one. 'No.' I continued for the next one.

The next dress that Alph presented me caught my eye a little. 'Maybe.' I said to him. 'What's this?' I heard Carol ask as Alph made the dress float in front of her. 'I'm trying that one on after I look through the rest of these.' I said to her offhandedly without looking at her.

'Only the bride is here? Not the bridesmaids?' Carol asked a little dumbfounded. I looked across to her and Mandy then with a faint smile. 'I have a bridesmaid. She just isn't here right now.' I reassured them before Mandy could ask who it was. 'Kazam!' Alph announced with a chuckle. 'Don't get too comfortable, I was going to ask you to walk me down the aisle Alph.' I thought to him in my mind.

'It's about time!' Mandy said in a huff. I looked over my shoulder to see a sulky Amanda come in with a stainless steel trolley with a four tier cupcake stand covered in assorted sweet and savoury finger food. On the shelf under it was a tea set with tea, coffee and chocolate. Following behind her was Nugget with Cheyenne on his back.

Nugget was chewing on what looked like a large piece of beef jerky. He held it between his clawed and scaled hands while he eagerly chewed on it. I also noticed that Cheyenne was also chewing on a piece of this dried meat. She too held it between her front legs, using her wings to balance herself on Nugget's back while he plodded along contently. I smiled softly at seeing them both happy and enjoying themselves.

'Earth to Milo!' Alph echoed in my head. I looked around shocked for a moment. 'Sorry?' I asked as I looked around. 'Milo would you like a drink while you pick what you want to try on?' Mandy asked me again. 'Coffee please. White and no sugar.' I said as I turned to Amanda.

I looked at Nugget and Cheyenne enjoying their little treat with another smile before looking back to the dresses. A heavy sigh escaped my lips. 'Alph hold them still for me for a moment please…' I said to him.

I walked through the levitating dresses. 'This one…' I touched a silk dress along the sash before walking between more of them. Alot of them were either too showy, too low cut or they looked like the old fashioned toilet roll covers that they used to dress certain dolls in to try and hide the extra roll of toilet paper so it looked pretty. In my opinion the plain roll of toilet paper looked better than some of those dolls did.

I found a nice halter neck dress with a modest train. It caught my eye and I looked at it closely and then looked around. Hanging on the wall was a silk hooded cloak with a train on it. 'Alph… put that cloak over this dress. I'm trying this one too.' I called to him before walking through the dresses again.

The next dress that caught my eye had long sleeves on it made from a cotton type material. The sleeves were skin tight around the tops of the arms then slowly fanned out to be loose and flowy around the wrists. The sleeves were covered in fine white embroidery of luvdisc and ovean waves. It looked medieval in style with a rope style belt around the hips and a simple tassel hanging on the end of the fine rope. 'This one too Alph. The rest can go back on the shelf.' I said to him calmly.

Amanda scurried over to me with my coffee and handed it to me. 'Thank you.' I said with a faint smile as Alph gave Carol my choices. I sipped my coffee, silently dreading the next part. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

'Before you go Amanda. I want... ' I trailed off as I counted on my fingers. '... I want six TMs for teleport added to my shopping cart. If you don't have six I want whatever you have left. Actually you better make that seven copies just in case.' I said to her with a smile.

Amanda looked at me puzzled before Mandy asked what the others seemed to be thinking. 'Milo why do you want so many?' Mandy asked. I looked at Mandy with a serious expression. 'Trust me… we are going to need them in the near future.' I said to her feeling myself frown.

'O-oh… because... ' Mandy trailed off and looked like she was about to cry. I nodded and walked up to her. I pulled Mandy into a tight hug. Mandy hugged me back. I could feel Amanda and Carol looking at us oddly with a lot of confusion. 'If she is a psychic and knows something is about to happen then I'm buying one of those TMs too.' Amanda suddenly said. 'Save one for me too!' Carol quickly piped in.

I could sense their sudden panic at our mood. I sighed heavily pushed Mandy away to make her look at me. 'Lets live in the here and now. You have a job to do right?' I asked Mandy with a smile. She gave a sniff and nodded before looking across to Amanda and Carol with teared up eyes.

I looked at both of the women with a sigh. 'You know… unless you know why you are buying the technical machine for teleport and have a Pokemon that can use it, you are just wasting your time and money buying them too.' I pointed out to them hoping that they wouldn't panic and buy out all the teleport TMs from under me.

Both of them looked at me sheepishly. They didn't know how to respond to that. I rolled my eyes at them and then looked at Mandy. 'Ready to torture me and force me to try dresses on?' I asked her in a joking tone. Mandy scoffed and slapped my arm. 'Get in that dressing room!' She ordered me with a giggle.

The next half an hour was full of me trying to decide between the halterneck dress and the medieval styled one. At least I had decided that I would be wearing the silk hooded cloak on whichever one I ended up getting. That cloak made both of those dresses something else.

In the end I chose the halterneck dress. The luvdisc embroidery on the sleeves of the medieval styled dress was a bit of a deal breaker for me. I was far from romantic, and as cool as it was love hearts just weren't my thing. I would rather be edgy and hot than edgy and a hopeless romantic.

'Now we need shoes!' Mandy said excitedly. 'Shoes? Nu-uh! No Shoes, this girl is going barefoot!' I said to Mandy. Mandy looked at me with a pout. 'But we want Hank to see those sexy legs be sexy!' Mandy argued. 'But my legs are covered by the long dress and Hank hardly ever sees my feet naked. Isn't that teasing and sexy enough as it is?' I asked as I argued back.

Mandy gave a whimper as she looked at me with big eyes. 'But shoes…' She said quietly. I should have known that she was a shoe shopper too. I had to think of a way out of this. I wanted to get to my hens party early. I had many rare Pokemon to catch and train before the war started!

'How about… How about we make a fair compromise. I go barefoot and you get to do my hair and make up?' I asked a I held my hand out to her. Mandy looked at me wide eyed. 'Oh! This is a difficult request. Ok I will let the shoes go and I will do your hair and make up!' She said with a smile as she shook my hand.

It was then that I noticed that Nugget and Cheyenne were still there with Amanda. Carol was behind the service desk looking bored. The two Pokemon had decided to watch me make a choice rather than go shopping for treats and toys. They must have wanted me to come with them. This gave me an idea and I looked at Mandy again.

'Mandy. Can we get a bow tie for Nugget and a flower crown for Cheyenne? Maybe something for Tilly, Butane and Snuggles too.' I said to Mandy. Mandy smirked and nodded. 'I know just the things!' She announced with an ominous calm.

A few hours of intense shopping and a nice lunch later Alph had teleported us all back to the Williams' residence. The first thing that I did was yawn. I was tired enough to almost ask for a nap. I was glad that Alph was powerful enough to teleport us and everything else with him. We had bought enough pokemon food for the wedding to fill a small truck to the top and we had bags of accessories and other things for the wedding. What I saw before me woke me up very quickly though.

Hank was out the front of the house with Butane, brushing him down. I was taken back a little at the sight. Hank was shirtless. I hardly ever saw him shirtless. His back was as toned as his front. I absentmindedly hugged the bag containing my wedding dress. 'Oooh! Hank you grew up to be a hottie!' Mandy cheered shamelessly before she draped an arm over my shoulders. Her reaction made my cheeks burn.

Hank stopped and turned to face us with his hands on his hips and a smirk in Mandy's direction. 'Hotter than Clyde?' He asked playfully. 'No!' Mandy snapped defensively before she hurried away. Hank snorted before laughing and looking at me with a grin. 'So you got everything?' He asked me.

'Yeah, I think so. I can't believe I forgot how much I hate shopping if it's not just for groceries.' I said with a shudder, still hugging the bag that my dress was hanging in. 'Got anything special for us for the honeymoon?' Hank asked me with a cheeky smile and a wink. I kicked a rock at his shin with a surprised cough.

'Yeah! I got myself the Technical Machine for Teleport!' I said trying to hide the shyness I suddenly felt twisting my gut and more butterflies than anything else. Hank could see this and he stalked over to me with a playful grin. He put his hands on my shoulders and looked into my eyes. 'You can do better than that when flirting with me.' He said in an amused tone.

'Actually I did buy teleport... show him Nugget.' I said with an awkward smile and a cough. Nugget chirped and stepped forward. He held a paper bag with the TMs that I had bought in his mouth. Nugget held it up as high as he could for Hank to take.

Hank looked at me curiously before bending down to take the bag from Nugget. He opened it up and looked inside to flick through the CDs. 'Why buy so many?' He asked before looking at me. 'In preparation for the war. Alph will be with Janice. The rest of us won't have a way to suddenly escape danger if we need to. There are Pokemon in the safari zone that can learn teleport. If each of us have a Pokemon with teleport then we will have a greater chance of making it through alive.' I explained to Hank.

Hank's face darkened a moment before he smiled at me with gratitude in his eyes. He pulled me into a hug. 'Thank you!' He said to me quietly. 'Milo get your shopping inside and pack your bags woman! We have a hens night to start and Hank still has work to do. Especially with the new pokemon that he and Cecilia collected while you were away!' Came Mrs Williams' voice.

Hank let go of me with a laugh and looked at his mother. 'I'm not allowed to hug her the day before the wedding?' He asked her. 'No! Not until you have everything ready!' She said before going back into the house. I chuckled a little. 'I guess the next time I see you, you will be trying to not have a nose bleed.' I said to Hank playfully.

Hank rolled his eyes at me before smirking. 'That is if you can handle getting your first kiss in front of everyone.' Hank teased me. I scoffed and punched him in the middle of his chest with one hand playfully while holding the dress away from him with the other hand. Hank held still under the punch. I paused and looked up at him.

He laughed before reaching over to take the dress out of my hand. 'Go pack your bags and come back. I expect you to be walking down the aisle at fifteen hundred hours sharp! As soon as the wedding is over we are going to Alola to spend alone time together away from everyone!' Hank said with a grin. His eyes looked as tired as I felt from all of this planning.

'Fifteen hundred sharp. Down the aisle… got it! See you tomorrow.' I said as I jumped on him and hugged him now that his hands were full. I playfully nuzzled him on the shoulder before letting go to race into the house before he could stop me.


	19. Chapter 19

Black Lightning Chapter 19

If there was something that I was good at, it was packing for a night of camping. That was most of my life. I packed quickly enough and was ready to go. Nugget and Cheyenne were out of their respective poke balls to do as they pleased. Odd was constantly with her egg, watching over it like the excited mother that she was. I was leaving them behind for this trip.

I had to help Mandy pack for herself and Cecilia. I was more unpacking for Mandy as she had packed way too much. I was narrowing her down to the bare essentials while Mrs Williams read the rules of the safari zone to us.

We can only stay for the amount of time that we have booked for. We are booked in for now until ten in the morning tomorrow.

We will all receive thirty safari balls each.

We are not allowed to bring our own Pokemon into the safari zone.

We can catch as many Pokemon that we want without engaging in battle using other Pokemon.

We can pay extra for more safari balls or time if we want to.

'That is basically it. Not as complicated as the bug catching contest. Janice said she would meet us there.' Mrs Williams said. I frowned a little and rubbed my chest. 'This will be my first night away from Nugget since he hatched.' I said at that revelation. 'Really? You are missing Nugget before you start missing Hank?' Mrs WIlliams asked me with an almost offended look on her face.

'Nugget is a baby! Hank is a man who can handle himself… besides, thinking about him right now will make me too nervous to do much other than stand here shell-shocked.' I said as I felt my cheeks start to burn. 'Ah bridal jitters. Good, then you are taking him seriously.' Mrs Williams said smugly.

I felt like I wanted to question her but decided that now wasn't the time. I cleared my throat as i looked through Mandy's designer backpack one more time. For some reason she wanted a regular fashion statement rather than a Silph Co marvel. The Silph Co backpack was like a bag of holding or the inside of a pokeball. You could fit so much in there so easily. The spacial digital distortion in those things was so convenient. I was glad that Cecilia had one.

'Ok Mandy you are ready to go now. We have all the essentials that we need.' I said to Mandy. Cecilia piped up. 'Yay! So we can go now?' She asked as she looked around at all of us.

'We can as soon as Alph is ready to teleport us there.' I responded with a smile. Alph was standing in the doorway watching us. He knew the plans better than I did. Everyone was leaving their pokemon behind on this trip.

Alph stepped into the room and waited in silence. When he sensed that we were all ready he teleported all of us.

I looked around at where we were. We were definitely in the country. It looked like we were on the edge of a forest. In front of us was a set of huge gates. It reminded me of the gates from Jurassic Park. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. Next to the gates was a building made from stone and mortar. This building had a blue cottage styled roof on it. Either side of the gates and the entry building were huge electrified and reinforced fences. Something that I guessed was to keep the rare Pokemon in and the other Pokemon out.

Janice was out the front of the building waiting for us. I couldn't help but notice that she was checking a pistol in her hands. She had the clip out and she was counting the bullets before she clicked it away and then tucked it under her arm to where I assumed was a holster for it. She smiled as we walked over to her.

Alph teleported back home. I assumed that he confirmed a pick-up time with Mrs Williams.

'Ready for the catching spree?' Janice asked us as though she hadn't just been handling a gun. Mrs WIlliams, Mandy and Cecilia didn't seem at all shocked by this. Maybe I was the only one who noticed or thought anything of it. 'I am very ready for this.' I responded to her.

'Oh you are? Did you do the nerd thing that Hank warned me about and make a list?' Janice asked me playfully. I chuckled. 'Actually I kind of did. Mentally any way.' I said as our group walked up to the doors of the Safari Zone entrance.

I got to the doors first and opened them to let everyone else in. Once Cecilia stepped inside I went and followed the group in.

Once inside I started looking around. No one was at the service desk right now. I noticed one wall was just a map of the whole Safari Zone. It had navigation lines through it to show the borders between each zone. Next to the huge map was a list of each Pokemon that typically stayed in each zone. I quickly scanned the list. Dratini and Dragonair were not on the list. Then one of the zones caught my eye.

It was called the "Danger Zone." It had a cautionary symbol next to it. On the map I could see that it was on a particularly rocky part of the map and it was next to what looked like a deep water lagoon. I took my PokeGear out and looked for the camera function to take photos of the map for reference for later. I couldn't figure out my camera function on my PokeGear so I instead opted to get my little notebook out to quickly take rough notes and sketches on everything that held interest to me on the map.

'Aunty Milo what are you doing?' Cecilia asked me as she came over to me. 'I am taking notes on where each of the Pokemon live that I want to catch.' I said to her with a small smile. 'Oh, that is really smart can i share your notes?' She asked me with a little smile. 'Sure!' I smiled down to her.

'Milo look! Fossil pokemon!' Mandy called me from the other side of the unmanned office. I looked over to where Mandy was. On a table in an aquarium with a split down the middle was an omanyte and kabuto. They were looking at Mandy through the glass while Mandy read a little plaque on the table. 'It says here that these were found as fossils in the most dangerous and unmarked Zone in the whole of the Safari Zone. Apparently there are a lot of fossils in that area but not many trainers actually get that far.' Mandy said to me.

I considered her words and then looked back at the map. 'I can see why not many make it there. That area is surrounded by a patch that is apparently heavy with bellsprout, weepinbell and victreebel. Not to mention to get to that area we need to get past the kangaskhan and tauros territories. I'm game to go there if the rest of you are.' I said looking at the rest of them eagerly.

'Only if you and Janice can take us on the safest route to get there.' Mrs Williams said in a tone of finality. I looked at Janice. She looked at me and smirked before nodding. 'We can do it. I packed some repels and an airhorn. If the worst comes to worst I'm armed to the teeth just in case so we are all good and safe to go, even to the danger zone.' Janice said calmly.

'Sweet. I'm just going to take some more notes while whoever is meant to be here isn't here to give us our safari balls to let us in.' I said before turning back to the wall on the map and contemplating the best route to get to the danger zone while optimising our chances of crossing paths with a chansey or something else that we could teach teleport. We had to run into enough of them though that everyone could catch one.

'Milo why are you so focused on planning our route?' Janice asked as she looked at me. 'Because, there is a decent handful of Pokemon from here that can learn the TM for teleport. You will have Alph while you are away which leaves the rest of us open and vulnerable. I want to get to the danger zone for those fossils but at the same time I think getting a chansey is also a must. An on-call nurse for the family would be a smart thing to invest in. Not just that but there are some tanky fighters that live here. We might need tanky fighters in the near future.' I said to Janice as I looked up from my notes to her.

'Ok I can get behind that kind of reasoning. That is actually smart planning.' Janice said. I smirked a little as I opened a page in my notebook to show Janice. 'While Mandy was packing the first time I made a list of all the Pokémon that could learn teleport from a Technical Machine. Some of them can be caught here quite easily. Their encounter chances are pretty good.' I explained to Janice.

Janice stepped over and looked over the list. 'I already have a clefable that I could leave behind if you want.' She offered while she read over the list. 'No Janice. You need every single one of your Pokemon with you.' Mrs Williams said to her in a stern voice.

'Ok Ma. Then are we all just catching for ourselves?' Janice asked. 'Yes we are. We all need our own Pokemon that can teleport.' I said to Janice. Janice frowned while she looked at me. 'You have no idea how true that is. Intel has reported that Kalos spies are already here assassinating the champions that they can get their hands on before the war starts.' Janice said in a strained voice.

'What is on the list?' Mandy asked as she looked at Janice and I. 'What do you mean Mandy?' I asked her. 'What is on the list of Pokemon here in the Safari Zone that can learn teleport that we can catch tonight? I would like to know my options since I will be catching for myself and Clyde tonight.' Mandy said with a furrowed brow.

'Oh right well, there is venomoth, slowpoke, exeggcute, exeggutor and chansey. Not much choice but it is better than nothing.' I said to Mandy. She looked like she was thinking hard about what I had told her. I then remembered something and I smirked at Janice. 'There is another reason that I want to get to the Dangerous area of the Safari Zone." I said to her.

Janice looked at me curiously. 'What do you know that we don't?' Mrs Williams asked me. 'Does anyone in the family own a dragonite yet?' I asked them. Janice looked at me a little confused as Mrs Williams eyed me suspiciously. 'Only Lance's family and close friends have that line of dragons at their disposal in Kanto and Johto.' Janice said. 'Maybe not for long. Not if we get very lucky in the Danger Zone.' I said to them quietly.

'But they aren't on the list.' Cecilia piped up from behind me. She had been looking at the wall. 'There is a reason for that that I will explain later.' I said to her over my shoulder with a slight smirk. 'Mysterious. I like where this is going.' Janice said excitedly.

Someone walked in from outside on the Safari Zone side of the building. 'Ladies. Are you the hens night that was booked by a Mrs Iris Williams?' That someone asked in a bored tone. He didn't look like he was in a good mood. He wore typical outdoor attire and had a five o' clock shadow. 'Yes that is us.' I answered him with a smile.

'I had a booking for five trainers who were catching today but there are only four of you?' He asked looking at our group. 'Hey mister! I'm a trainer too. I'm number five!' Cecilia piped up. She bounced over to him and held out her PokeGear. He took it and opened it up to check her ID. His eyebrow quirked as he looked at Cecilia.

'When was the legal age lowered?' He asked as he handed Cecilia her PokeGear back. 'Today.' Janice answered. 'The last time the legal age was lowered like this was because of a war. Should I be worried?' He asked. I looked at Janice who sighed.

'It's not public knowledge yet but there will be soon. It will be announced in five days. We are here for a hens night though. Tomorrow Milo there is getting married to my brother.' Janice said with a sigh. The news should have been happy news but with the impending war on its way we were more focused on getting our defences ready rather than actually celebrating.

He gave a nod and then went through a door that said "STAFF ONLY!" He came back a minute later with five brown cloth bags tied shut with a cord tie and handed one to each of us. 'Here are your safari balls. Enjoy your stay, don't get killed and beware of the grumpy rhyhorn that has been hanging around the exit like a bad smell.' He said in a tone that told us he was too tired to care if we did come back alive or not.

'Dibs on the grumpy rhyhorn!' Cecilia said as she skipped over to the door that opened to the Safari Zone on the other side. Janice and Mandy followed after her. I waited for Mrs Williams to walk ahead of me before I followed up at the rear.

We didn't walk far from the exit before we saw the rhyhorn that the Safari Zone guy was talking about. The rhyhorn looked at us with a glare before lowering his head and pawing at the ground about to charge. 'Go Pokeball!' Cecilia said as she ran at the rhyhorn and threw her first safari ball.

'Horn?' The rhyhorn gasped at Cecilia's reaction as the safari ball hit him in the face. He looked very surprised before he turned into a blaze of red light and was sucked into the safari ball. The ball snapped shut with an audible snap.

One!

Two!

Click!

'Yes!' Cecilia fist pumped before running over to the safari ball and picking it up. 'I have a rhyhorn!' Cecilia said excitedly as she ran back to us. 'But… but… but… but they eat so much!' Mandy said in a horrified voice. 'Don't forget he is grumpy!' I said as I tried my best to not laugh. 'Hey! He is my Mr Grumpy!' Cecilia said in a defencive voice.

'Are you sure Mr Grumpy is a Mr? You might want to check on your PokeGear.' I suggested to Cecilia. 'Oh! Good idea!' Cecilia said as she opened up her PokeGear to scan the safari ball. We stood and waited for her. 'It IS a Mr Grumpy!' She announced as she clipped the safari ball to her new ball belt.

'Well Milo where is this Danger Zone and how do we get there?' Janice asked me with a smirk. She folded her arms over her chest. I flung my backpack back on my back and tied the bag of safari balls onto a belt loop on my pants. I took out my notebook to check my notes before I looked up at the sky and checked the time on my PokeGear.

'We have to go over that hill and follow the creek to higher ground.' I said as I pointed in that direction. From here I could already see that it was all uphill and a lot of it would be through dense forest and long grass. Some of the long grass looked as tall as me.

'You know… the rules say we cant catch Pokemon we battle with our own Pokemon but there was nothing said about not riding the pokemon that we catch here. Maybe Cecilia can convince Mr Grumpy to give us a lift to the danger Zone? We can stop on the way if we see anything good.' I said with a sly smile. 'Maybe once we get out of view fo warden's office.' Mrs Williams suggested.

'I think I can manage that!' Cecilia said confidently before starting to walk ahead to the hill. We all followed Cecilia until we were out of sight of the warden's office. Cecilia released Mr Grumpy with a giggle.

'Horn?' The rhyhorn looked around shocked. 'Your name is Mr Grumpy now. I am Cecilia and I caught you fair and square!' Cecilia said to the rhyhorn who now looked at her closely. Mandy stepped over to stand beside Cecilia protectively. 'Mr Grumpy we would like you to give us a ride to the place where dratini lives.' Cecilia said openly. Mr grumpy looked at Cecilia with narrowed eyes before he lowered his head. 'Horn.' He said in a defeated tone. He wasn't happy about being caught but he accepted Cecilia as his trainer.

'Up you go Mama! You can ride first with Granny. If there is room for me too I want to ride as well.' Cecilia said with a smile, offering her mother and grandmother a ride first. 'The sooner we get to the Danger Zone the better. We need to set up camp so we can start fishing.' I said as I looked at Janice.

'I didn't bring a rod!' Janice said to me quietly. I didn't have a rod either. 'That's ok. If we catch a water type that can dive us down into the lagoon we might be able to catch it like that.' I said to Janice while i thought outloud. Janice looked at me with a calculating stare. I thought I could sense her questioning my sannity but she noded slowly seeming to agree. 'That is another way of doing it.' She agreed quietly.

'Come on, they can catch up once they are on Mr Grumpy. If we see a tauros on our way I'm not holding back. Having a local mount take us there faster is better than us walking and taking longer.' I said to Janice as I started walking in the right direction while Mandy, Mrs Williams and Cecilia figured out among themselves how to sit on Mr Grumpy to ride him. Once they were on they would soon catch up. I had no doubt about that.

While we walked Janice took out her PokeGear and held it out in front of her. Every few steps she swept her arm side to side to scan the area. 'What is that for?' I asked her. 'Scanning for nearby Pokemon. The PokeGear has pretty good range for picking up life that might be hidden from the eye. It will see something before we do. Especially in that long grass.' Janice said with a smirk while we walked.

I took my PokeGear out and looked at it. 'Can you show me how to start that function up?' I asked her. No one had shown me how to use my PokeGear yet. Janice stopped next to me as I opened up the leather case which activated the screen to wake up. 'Touch the menu button, under pokemon, then scan for stats.' Janice instructed me as I tapped the options that she told me to.

The screen went black with a white line through the middle. On the bottom of the screen read the words "SCANNING FOR STATS!" I held the PokeGear up and moved it around from side to side looking for any sign of something. 'Nothing yet, lets keep going. There is probably a lot of stuff hiding in the grass.' Janice encouraged me as she continued moving forward.

I followed next to her into the grass. We were both careful to scan in front of us and around us so we didn't get surprised attacked by anything. Ahead of us the grass got even longer. 'Janice we should move closer to the creek where the grass isn't so long.' I said to her, pointing to where the grass didn't get longer as it went up hill.

'Good idea.' She said as she started to move over towards the creek. As I started to follow Janice my PokeGear gave a blip and the screen showed a female nidoran in front of me somewhere. I couldn't see it but it was in there somewhere. I reached into the bag of safari balls and took one out. I pressed the button to activate the ball. I slowly moved closer to where the PokeGear was telling me that the baby Pokemon was hiding. The PokeGear was telling me that this nidoran was less than a week old.

I ducked down low into the grass and slowly shuffled closer to where the PokeGear told me she was hiding. 'Milo?' Janice called me suddenly realising that I wasn't behind her any more. 'Shh!' I hissed quietly to her as I snuck forward slowly in the long grass.

I pulled the grass away from me slowly as I moved through it until I could only just see it. A little blue nidoran covered in spikes. She was asleep in a nest of long grass that had been carefully woven over her by something else. I set my PokeGear to scan again and slowly looked around for any adults that would be protecting this nest. There was nothing. The adults must have gone to forage and left the baby hidden in the grass to sleep.

'Are you catching her or gawking at her?' Janice asked me in a hushed whisper from closeby. She must have scanned in the baby nidoran too. 'I'm leaving this one where she is. If the parents come back and she is missing they will probably go on a rampage after us.' I said to janice quietly as I slowly backed away from the nest. I wasn't about to catch a hidden baby out from under a careful parent's nose.

I did my best to cover the spot back over with the long grass before I made my way to the side of the creek where Janice was. 'I would have caught her and the parents. But that is just me.' Janice said to me quietly. 'I'm trying to save my safari balls for more impressive targets. Dratini aren't the only rare Pokemon with a mysterious mythical like status that live here.' I said to Janice quietly while we walked and scanned ahead of ourselves.

'Really? This other Pokemon is what you want instead of the dratini?' Janice asked me curiously. 'Yeah. It is rumoured in the banishment world that champion Red came across an aerodactyl here in the Danger Zone when he was looking for rare pokemon.' I said quietly to Janice. 'So?' She asked me while we walked and scanned. 'So it was rumoured that the aerodactyl wasn't revived from a fossil… There is another rumour that aerodactyl not revived from fossils were originally flying and dragon dual types rather than rock and flying dual type. The theory is that all fossil pokemon are rock and some other type because they are revived from fossils but living specimens that somehow survived extinction are still their original typing.' I explained to her while we walked.

Janice smirked. 'Lance would eat the hair off his head is he knew there was an original pure form of a dragon Pokemon that he didn't have… but...' Janice trailed off before looking at me. 'So why are Nugget and Snuggles not rock type? Didn't they come from fossils?' Janice asked me a little confused.

'They were from fossilised eggs but the eggs were so well preserved that I think the portal revived the eggs to their natural state. Snuggles and Nugget hatched in the museum but the Zaptor that Lee and the Chairman have were revived from the fossils. Hence why they were rock and dark or rock and electric.' I explained to Janice.

'That makes sense now. So you want to catch ancient Pokemon that do not have the rock type masking their potential original state?' Janice asked me. 'Yes, pretty much. More for my studies and own curiosity than my own self defense. I am an Archeologist after all. I also need a chansey for myself and I would like victreebel, tauros and a kingdra in my arsenal.' I said with a quiet chuckle.

There was a rumbling sound behind us and a loud snort. Janice and I turned around with safari balls ready. Mr Grumpy had caught up to us with Cecilia, Mandy and Mrs Williams riding on his back. Mr Grumpy was walking up the creek following behind us while we stood on the bank.

'Did you catch anything without us?' Cecilia asked with a bright smile as Mr Grumpy walked closer to us.


	20. Chapter 20

Black Lightning Chapter 20

'No we haven't caught anything without you.' I responded with a laugh. 'You could have caught that sleeping nidoran.' Janice retorted. 'I didn't want the parents coming after us later when we had no more safari balls left!' I said back to her.

'That is smart. If one of you caught Cecilia in a poke ball while I was away I would rampage on all of your asses.' Mandy said with a nod while she crossed her arms over her chest as she sat on Mr Grumpy's back.

'SLOW!' came a loud snore from ahead of us. 'Is that a slowpoke?' Mandy asked right after hearing that snoring. 'I want it! That will be my teleport pokemon!' Mandy said claiming dibs on it. Mandy jumped down from Mr Grumpy and ran ahead of us up the creek. Janice and I followed after her to see her throw her first safari ball at the sleeping pink lump on the side of the creek.

One!

Click!

The sleeping pokemon was caught. Mandy gave an excited squeal. 'Did you see it? It was so squishy and fat! So cute!' Mandy said as she picked up her safari ball and clipped it onto her belt. Mandy now wore a proud smile as she strolled back to Mr Grumpy.

'Slooooooooooooow!' Came another snore like sound. I looked further up the creek to see several more slowpoke all sleeping in a loose pile together. 'Who else wants a slowpoke for the teleport move?' I asked the others.

'I'm scanning for the strongest one. I haven't got a Slowking and I could use one of those.' Janice said as she walked closer to the sleeping slowpoke beached on the creek bank. Mandy gave a giggle. 'I can catch one for Clyde too! We can have couples pokemon!' She said with a smile.

'So you are all catching slowpoke?' Mrs Williams asked us all. 'I want one too! Save one for me!' Cecilia said as she urged Mr Grumpy to keep walking up the creek. 'It looks like we are catching all of the sleeping slowpoke. If Mandy doesn't, I think that Cecilia might. Slowpoke have their uses.' I said to her as I looked up where she was perched on top of Mr Grumpy.

Cecilia jumped down into the shallow creek water and threw a ball at a sleeping slowpoke while Janice was scanning it. 'Hey!' Janice said in surprise when the slowpoke she was in the middle of scanning vanished in a red light.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Click!

Cecilia caught a Slowpoke. Cecilia rushed over to pick up the ball she had thrown. She clipped it onto her belt with a grin. 'My Turn!' Mandy announced as she looked at the sleeping slowpoke.' How do I pick?' She asked before shrugging and throwing a ball at the closests one. 'Oh come on!' Janice groaned. She had been in the middle of scanning that one too.

One!

Two!

Three!

Click!

Mandy smiled and picked up the safari ball and clicked it onto her belt next to the other slowpoke.

I waited for Janice to choose the one she wanted out of the group. 'Anything left worth catching or did they accidentally catch the best ones?' I asked Janice with a laugh. 'That one is a good one for you Milo. I'm going to take this one over here.' Janice said to me as she stood up and walked over to a different slowpoke. It was easy pickings when all of them were asleep. I secretly wondered if I should hunt for a bellsprout like this. Janice dropped a safari ball on the slowpoke that she wanted.

One!

Two!

Click

The slowpoke was caught. 'Is that your first psychic type pokemon?' I asked Janice with a smirk. 'Yeah it is actually.' She said as she looked at me. 'Congrats!' I said to her with a chuckle. She picked up the ball and clipped it onto her belt with a smile.

I stepped over to the slowpoke that Janice had pointed out to me, trusting her judgement. I dropped a safari ball on it and watched as the slowpoke was pulled inside with a flash of red light before the ball rolled around on the creek pebbles.

One!

Click!

I picked up the safari ball and put it onto my belt. It wasn't useful to me right now so I would just let it sleep.

I noticed that Mr Grumpy had continued up the creek without the rest of us. Mrs Williams was telling the grouchy rhyhorn to keep walking. She didn't bother catching a slowpoke. Cecilia and Mandy were already walking after Mr Grumpy on the bank. I looked across to Janice with a shrug and followed.

It wasn't long before we came to a rise in the creek where it branched to the side up enough of a cliff that we couldn't climb it. The only way to follow the creek was to enter the forest section, that on the map had warned of the man eating victreebel infestation. 'We go through the forest or we rock climb.' I said to the group.

'Forest!' Mrs Williams voted before anyone else could have a say. I guess if she didn't want to climb up the cliff we couldn't force her. 'Forest it is.' Janice said with a shrug. Mr Grumpy turned and walked up the bank to start trudging through the forest. By following the creek we had avoided the bulk of the grasslands where the rideable pokemon usually were.

I took out my PokeGear again and started scanning ahead of myself. Not just at the ground but up above me too. I got a blip when I scanned past a lot of vines. I couldn't see anything just yet. I slowly moved my hand past where I had gotten the blip from.

A picture of Tangela popped up on the screen. I took out another ball and activated it before Janice could see it on her PokeGear. I quickly moved forward where the vines were thick and pulled them out of the way. 'TAAAH!' The tangela screamed in fright. I threw the safari ball at it before it could flee after getting its wits scared out of it. 'Milo what was that?' Mandy asked as she called out to me concerned.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Five!

Pop!

The Tangela screamed again and started running the moment that it escaped. I took out the next ball and threw it as hard as I could with a back spin. The ball hit the fleeing pokemon and pulled it in again. 'Milo!' Janice called me this time at hearing the next scream. 'I'm ok!' I called back.

One!

I ran towards the ball while it wobbled on the ground.

Two!

I picked up the ball and held it tight in my hands to stop it from popping open.

Crack!

The ball gave a sound like it wanted to pop but couldn't because I was holding it shut. The button on the front flashed red a few times before it turned green with a 'CLICK!'

I gave a sigh of relief and clipped the ball onto my belt before turning around to face Janice. 'What was that?' she asked me with wide eyes. 'A Tangela.' I said with a slight smile. I held up my PokeGear to show her the picture. Janice took the PokeGear from me with shock and started to walk back to the others. 'NO FUCKING WAY!' She said in shock. 'Fucking is a bad word Aunty Janice!' Cecilia said to her with a frown.

Mandy was glaring at Janice. 'Sorry! Milo just caught a Tangela!' She said to the others. 'Why is that exciting? They look so messy!' Mandy said while she pulled a face. 'Tangela are really rare Mandy and very hard to spot. Milo, well done on finding one.' Mrs Williams said calmly as she gave me a smile.

I held my hand out to Janice for my PokeGear back. Janice put it back in my hand reluctantly. I set my PokeGear back to scanning the area while we walked next to Mr Grumpy who didn't stop walking to where we had asked him to take us. Janice also had her PokeGear set to scan. We constantly picked up blips for bellsprout but none of them were coming after us while the sun was still up and none of them had any stats that made them desirable to me.

Mrs Williams also took her Gear out after a while as well as Cecilia. Mandy fell silent and watched all around us. In this forest, with all the warnings from the main office, we were all on edge.

I jumped when I heard a squeal and Mandy threw a ball up above herself. Something turned into a flash of red light and the safari ball fell into Cecilia's lap. Janice took out an eight inch hunting knife as she quickly moved over to Cecilia just in case the unknown pokemon broke out and attacked.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Click!

The button on the safari ball flashed green, confirming that whatever it was had been caught. Cecilia scanned the safari ball in her lap. 'Mama! You caught a weepinbell!' Cecilia said excitedly as she passed the safari ball to Mandy. 'M-maybe Clyde would like it!' Mandy said a little shaken as she clipped it onto her ball belt.

It must have given her quite the fright. 'Its ok Mandy. It's in the pokeball now. You are safe from that one.' I said trying to comfort her. 'Y-yeah. There is one less in the forest now… its ok!' She said trying to be brave. She looked like she was scared of the bellsprout line. Honestly I couldn't blame her, victreebel was known to be a maneater. It was a dangerous thing to have one or even desire to have one.

Mr Grumpy gave a snort and kept walking. Janice and I turned our PokeGear back to scanning our surrounding area.

We walked undisturbed for quite a while. The only thing that made us pause was when another flash of red light flared behind us. 'Who threw that one and what was it?' I asked looking back. I hadn't picked anything up at that spot, so whatever it was must have just gone there as I moved the PokeGear scanner away.

'I did. It is a paras.' Mrs Williams said. We heard the click and then had to go looking for the safari ball.

'Found it!' Janice called from behind a tree. The ball must have rolled around alot for it to have gotten there. Right as Janice claimed to have found the ball I also found a safari ball. 'Um are you sure? I just found a ball too.' I said to Janice as I walked back over to Mr Grumpy who didn't stop. Janice jogged over to catch up. We both held up the safari balls that we found. 'You may as well keep both Ma since we don't know which is yours.' Janice said to her.

Mrs Williams scanned the balls one at a time with her PokeGear. 'Mr Grumpy Stop. Neither of these are mine. They both contain bellsprout.' She commanded the rhyhorn. Mr grumpy gave a snort and stopped.

Mrs WIlliams clipped the two bellsprout to her own belt and slowly climbed down from Mr Grumpy's back. Mrs Williams walked over to where she had actually thrown the Safari ball. She rustled around in a shrub for a while before standing up with a frown. In her hand were five safari balls. 'Milo Scan them, I'm going to check our surroundings.' Janice said with a frown as she took out her gun to start investigating the area around where we had found the stray safari balls.

I scanned the five safari balls one by one. The first one was another bellsprout. The second one, also a bellsprout. The third one was a weepinbell. The fourth was a paras, and the fifth one another bellsprout. Mrs Williams clipped the paras onto her belt next to the two bellsprout.

'We have your Ma's paras here, three bellsprout and a weepinbell.' I said across to Janice while she walked around and between the trees looking above and below for anything suspicious. 'Milo come here…' Janice called me quietly. I handed the four other balls to Mrs Williams and stalked quietly over to Janice.

'What is it?' I asked her quietly. Janice pointed on the ground next to a wide trunked tree. Resting next to the tree at a strange angle was a blood spattered baseball cap. It looked like it had fallen from a great height. I looked slowly up the trunk of the tree and could see a trail of old dried up blood up the trunk.

At the top of the trail was a sleeping victreebel with a blood caked shoelace hanging from the corner of its mouth, near the leaf stem that covered over its mouth. For now it wasn't looking at us. Its attention was elsewhere.

It was reaching its vines out along a branch in a suspicious manner. I looked along where it's vines were reaching. Behind the vines I noticed other victreebel watching the largest one. The one with the shoelace hanging from its mouth must have been the leader of this group of carnivorous plants. The Victreebel was hunting a sleeping venomoth that was hanging upside down on a high branch.

I leant across to Janice who was watching above us at the gory scene about to unfold. 'I want both of them. Think you can get the others to get ready to run after I throw the balls?' I asked her in a whisper. 'Yeah.' Janice whispered back. I glanced at her when I saw her arm move. She sent her mother a series of hand signals. Mrs WIlliams quietly hurried over to Mandy and Cecilia to get them ready to flee.

I waited until the victreebel had grabbed the venomoth, waking it up with a start. 'Venomoth!' It shouted in surprise as it was roughly grabbed in a wrap and pulled over to the hungry victreebel in its vines. I looked over my shoulder to make sure that the others were ready to run.

'Hurry up!' Mrs Williams mouthed to me. I looked up to see that the struggling and surprised venomoth was about to be put into the victreebel's mouth. I threw the ball up at the victreebel first before following up with a second ball at the now falling venomoth. They both flashed into red light before the balls started falling to the ground.

I ran forward to catch them before they fell to the ground. I caught them both just as they made their first wobble.

One!

One!

I turned back as I heard an angry chorus of the other victreebel when their leader was caught. I started running to Mr Grumpy.

Two!

Two!

'Janice hurry up!' I snapped at her as I ran past her. Janice started to run with me but kept looking over her shoulder.

Three!

Three!

'Run to dratini Grumpy! You are weak to grass types!' I snapped at him as I started to run at him from behind.

Four!

Click!

I wasn't sure which one clicked yet but right now I was focused on running away from the angry rustling from the trees behind me. Mr Grumpy snorted and started to run also.

Five!

'Milo release the caught pokemon!' Janice yelled at me while we ran after Mr Grumpy.

Six!

I skidded to a stop and turned around as I held the safari ball out in front of me. 'Come out!' I called to whoever it was in the ball.

Pop!

The ball in my hand burst open as the Pokemon was released. I suddenly found myself face to face with a furious Victreebel that had managed to burst the safari ball. 'Venomoth gust on the trees above us!' I snapped as I kicked the victreebel as hard as I could between the eyes.

'TREEEEEE!' the victreebel screamed at me. I couldn't battle pokemon that I intended on catching with pokemon that I had caught, but there was nothing saying that I couldn't be completely insane and fight them myself. 'SHUT UP AND GET IN THE BLOODY BALL!' I yelled back as I kicked it between the eyes again where it sat on the ground.

Above me the trees rustled more as venonat used gust. Victreebel vine whipped me cutting me over my thighs and across my chest, drawing blood. I hissed from the pain and kicked again, half stomping on it while I reached for another safari ball. Victreebel whipped me again, this time across my shins and down my side.

I punched down with the ball in my hand, making sure to get it in the eye with the ball with a hard grunt. The ball snapped open to suck the victreebel in again with another red flash. 'MILO!' Mandy screamed from behind me. I could feel a rush of several presences coming at me and hear an air disturbance from something similar to rope.

One!

'TOUCH ME AND YOU LOSE YOUR FREEDOM TOO!' I yelled up at the trees in a menacing way. Just above me several vines were stopped in mid air. The remaining wild victreebel had paused where they were.

Two!

'I defeated your leader. I am your leader now. Hurt me or my group and there WILL be consequences!' I said up at them with a glare. Venomoth looked at me with curious eyes while they fluttered around me between all the victreebel vines.

Three!

I put my foot on the wobbling ball on the ground and held it down while I watched the other victreebel in the trees. They all glared at me silently but made no move against me. 'Milo you are bleeding, we need to keep moving.' Janice said to me. I could hear her walking over to me from behind.

Crack!

I kept my foot on the ball, refusing to let the victreebel escape.

Crack!

'Milo what was that sound?' Janice asked me. I looked at her over my shoulder. 'A man eating plant trying to escape its poke ball.' I said in a blunt voice.

Click!

I took my foot off the ball and held it up to the other victreebel. 'Tomorrow night you will battle each other to find yourselves a new leader. Your friend is coming with me. If I see any of you ever again I will catch you!' I said to them in a voice of finality before clicking the safari ball onto my belt. The other victreebel all moved back into the trees, fleeing as quietly as they could into the canopy away from me.

Hopefully they would spread the word to all the others of their species to not bother us for the rest of the trip.

I held my hand up with venomoth's pokeball as I looked up at it fluttering above us. I watched it for a moment while I thought. The venomoth watched me while it fluttered around.

'You can stay out. We need you to check and make sure we are headed in the right direction. We want to go to the pool that dratini lives in.' I said to the purple moth. I clicked the safari ball onto my belt. Venomoth didn't answer, they just flew up into the air.

I let Janice help me over to Mr Grumpy. 'Mandy, Cecilia, your turn to walk. Milo needs to rest while I treat her wounds.' Janice ordered them. Cecilia and Mandy jumped down from Mr Grumpy's back. Janice helped me to climb up onto the rhyhorn's back to sit side saddle as she climbed up behind me.

'Aunty Milo weren't you scared?' Cecilia asked me in a small voice. 'Not really. I really wanted to catch those two.' I said to her with a small smile as she walked next to Mr Grumpy. Janice lifted my backpack off my shoulders to get it out of her way to check the bleeding gash on my side. 'I was scared for you…' Cecilia said with a small voice. 'I'm ok Cecilia. Crazy Aunty Milo can take a hit.' I said to her with a small smile and a wink.

Mrs Williams was walking next to Mr Grumpy too as she looked up at me. 'I understand why you want the venomoth by why the victreebel that has so obviously eaten people before?' She asked me a little worried. 'Because there is a war coming. If someone leaks that I am part of the Pokemon League intelligence division now then that makes me a target. Having a man eating victreebel guard me at night while i sleep seems like a great asset, especially if they eat the enemy spies.' I said with a calm shrug.

Mrs Williams narrowed her eyes at me. 'What if they still tries to eat you anyway?' She asked. 'I have Cheyenne, Odd and my new venomoth to keep them in line. Grass types don't do so well against flying types and Odd is always awake, even when she sleeps.' I pointed out with a shrug.

The adrenaline was keeping the pain away. 'What about the wedding tomorrow?' Mandy asked me in a worried voice. 'What about the wedding tomorrow?' I asked as I looked over to Mandy while Janice lifted my t-shirt at my side and started to clean the wound. Mr Grumpy continued to walk. 'You are all cut up! What if you bleed on your dress?' She asked in a worried tone.

'It is ok Mandy. I shouldn't be doing anything before the wedding to make any cuts bleed before I have to walk down the aisle.' I responded to her worry with a calm shrug.

Venomoth flew down to Mr Grumpy. 'Ven veno ven ven venomoth.' they said to Mr Grumpy. Mr Grumpy gave a snort and changed directions, following the venomoth out of the forest. I hoped that they were going in the right direction. I just had to trust them i guess.

Silently I was happy that venomoth had accepted their capture so gracefully, or maybe it was still in shock. It did watch me fight a victreebel, it must think that I am too crazy to rebel against for fear of a similar fate. I still had to scan it to find out about it, but for now I was just happy to have it.


	21. Chapter 21

Black Lightning Chapter 21

Getting through the forest certainly had been eventful. Janice had done her best with her first aid kit to patch me up after my battle against victreebel. The potions in her pack actually worked a lot on my cuts.

Venomoth continued to lead us to where the dratini pond was. While we traveled I took the time to observe our group for a little while.

Mr Grumpy continued to be grumpy. Although I did observe that he was very obedient to the bubbly little Cecilia's wishes. Perhaps he was grumpy because he just wanted someone to love him. He was a lone rhyhorn when we caught him. Maybe all of his family had been caught and the captors ran out of balls before they got him too.

The trees started to thin out as we exited the forest and started to enter grasslands again. I looked across to Janice and Mrs Williams. I opened my mouth to ask them something about the dead trainer but decided against it while Cecilia was there.

There was a cracking crash that distracted me from my train of thought. I didn't realise that I had entered a day dream.

'Milo didn't you say earlier that you wanted a Tauros for some reason?' Janice asked me before I could look up to see what the sound was. 'Yes why?' I asked. Janice smirked and pointed to where the sound had come from.

A pair of large tauros were locking horns in a battle for dominance. Why they needed to fight for dominance confused me a little. Tauros were only male, they had to breed outside of their own species to have offspring. If they actually wanted more of themselves then they needed to impress a ditto. It was amazing that they hadn't already gone extinct, especially since ditto was a man-made creation. Was tauros immortal maybe? Is that why they didn't die out yet? They were considered "rare" not "endangered". They weren't dying out there just weren't that many of them. That would be a mystery for another day though.

Not far from the fighting pair the rest of the herd watched in a semicircle. It reminded me of when a fight broke out in highschool and everyone would gather around to watch and provoke the fight to go longer. The watching tauros pawed and stamped on the ground while the other two wrestled with each other.

I saw a ball flying through the air and hit one of the competing tauros on the rump before sucking him into a pokeball in a flash of red light. I looked at Mrs Williams who looked at me smugly. She had a great throwing arm. 'If you hesitate you will miss your chance.' She said to me with a cheeky smirk.

The rest of the herd spooked when they saw one of their own vanish inside of a safari ball. I jumped down from Mr Grumpy's back and took a run-up before throwing a safari ball at the fleeing herd. I got a lucky shot as my safari ball tapped the end of a Tauros tail while it ran. It got sucked into the safari ball with a terrified bellow.

Next to the tauros that I caught another one got sucked into a safari ball. Janice had thrown one as well, except her ball hit that tauros on the back of the head. She had a strong arm like her mother. I was lucky to even get my ball far enough to hit my tauros.

We were too far away to see if our balls had clicked yet or if they were still wobbling. Mrs Williams hurried over to where her safari ball had fallen into the long grass. She had another ball ready to throw just in case.

I tried to run in the long grass but it was hard going. The grass was hip high on me. I looked around for my safari ball when I got to the spot where the tauros tracks ended in the grass. The long grass was flattened where the tauros had run over it. Janice knew where hers was and she made a beeline for where that ball had fallen in the grass.

A small growl made me turn around and look down. Behind me, at the edge of where the grass still stood tall, was a male nidoran with a front paw on my wobbling safari ball. 'Nido!' he growled at me. 'Anyone want an angry male nidoran?' I asked the others as I backed away from it. I didn't need to get poisoned as well as cut up today.

The safari ball gave a little squirm under his clawed little paw. 'I do!' Cecilia called out as she ran over to me as quickly as she could. She had been petting Mr Grumpy on his nose and talking to him. The rhyhorn still looked grumpy in the face but his relaxed body showed me that he was enjoying the attention that Cecilia gave him.

Cecilia almost vanished in the grass when she ran through it to me. I could only see her because her bright blue hair stood out in the tall yellowing grass. Cecilia was short for her age.

The nidoran's horn started to glow white before he charged at me. My safari ball clicked under his clawed paw just as he started to charge at me. I jumped over him to avoid either a poison sting or a horn attack. I wasn't sure of which one. Before the pinkish little spike ball could turn around and charge again Cecilia threw a safari ball at it.

One!

I sighed and picked up my own safari ball and clicked it onto my belt.

Two!

I looked up at the sky and the position of the sun, we still had a good four hours of daylight left. No time to waste though.

Pop!

'No! Naughty! You get back in the ball!' Cecilia scolded the growling little nidoran before throwing another ball right at his face. Another pop sounded somewhere else making me look up.

One!

'GAH!' Janice yelled as she threw another ball at the terrified tauros that tried to run again. It became a flash of red light and got sucked back into another ball.

Click!

'Yay! Good nidoran!' Cecilia clapped and picked up her safari ball. She held it up and ran back to Mandy who was standing next to Mr Grumpy. 'Mama! I caught a Nidoran! A pink one!' Cecilia announced excitedly. 'Aww that is so cute! I love Pink!' Mandy responded to her with a bright smile. I couldn't help but chuckle.

Pop!

The tauros popped out of the safari ball that Janice had thrown again. Janice yelled again and threw another ball at him making him vanish into red light again.

The ball must have clicked its confirmation of a successful capture because Janice let out an outburst of frustrated words with the mix of success she must have been feeling. 'Finally! Thank freaking shit you little turd burger! You stayed in the ball! Good job!' Janice said starting to curse but she noticed the glare that Mandy was giving her, so she quickly toned it down. Janice gave a nervous laugh under Mandy's "mum glare".

Cecilia giggled at her Aunty Janice's little outburst.

Mrs Williams wasted no time and sent out her tauros and grabbed him by the horns with a hard tug. She yanked his head down to her eye level with a sneer. 'I caught you, you are mine now. Your name is now Stan!' She said to him. The tauros looked at her frozen and dumb struck. 'Stan I'm going to ride you to where we are going and you are going to listen to me. I am the boss.' Mrs Williams said in a blunt tone to the tauros now named Stan. Stan just continued to stare at her dumbly. He looked like he was too scared to move for now.

I could already see myself getting confused and mixing up Stan and Angus' names. Stan was her big bad bull but Angus was her pinsir. I felt like the names should have been switched but that was just my cultural opinion. They were her Pokemon. She could name them whatever she wanted to. (I did miss a good Angus beef steak or burger. It turns out that the Pokemon world had red hereford cows but no angus. It was a little sad.)

Janice released her tauros and gave it a similar speech. She took a rope out of her bag and started to make a halter for him.

I took that as my chance to do the same thing. I brought out the tauros and looked at him in the eyes while he stood before me. He was much bigger than I thought he was from Mr Grumpy's back. He looked at me, seeming to have calmed down after being in the safari ball. I searched his eyes for aggression but found none. He was just watching me and waiting. He must have been on the lower end of the pecking order in the herd. I could live with that, I didn't need another dominant Pokemon like victreebel on my team right now.

I cleared my throat. 'My name is Milo. I'm your trainer now. If you listen to me I will keep you safe and make you stronger than you have ever been. We are on our way to the dratini pool. I'm going to ride you on the way there. If you are good then you will get to stay outside of the safari ball.' I said to him confidently.

He watched me for a moment before turning his head away and facing his side at me. I smiled and took that as a sign to approach him. I climbed onto his back and held onto the thick fur on his shoulders. 'Follow the rhyhorn' I said to him.

'Taur!' He responded and started walking over to Mr Grumpy. His hooves made deep thumping sounds while he walked and flattened the long grass under his steps. Mrs Williams and Janice rode up beside me with triumphant smiles. 'Now this is how you get around a huge safari zone to catch rare pokemon!' Janice remarked happily.

'We haven't found any chansey yet and we still need to get to the danger zone to set up camp.' I said with a sigh. 'What if our Pokemon run for a little while? It will be faster.' Cecilia suggested. 'Are you comfortable on Mr Grumpy if he runs Mandy?' I asked her. Mandy looked a little uncertain before she nodded as she climbed back onto Mr Grumpy's back. She had gotten down earlier to look at the scanned picture of Cecilia's new nidoran.

'Yay! Lets ride!' Cecilia hooted happily. Mr Grumpy groaned and then started to run. Venomoth was still leading the way from the sky. The three tauros started running too, keeping pace with the bulky rhyhorn. Mandy held onto Mr Grumpy the best that she could while he ran. She looked very uncomfortable.

The ground started to rise up in a slope. The grass started to thin out and the ground became rocky and covered in pebbles and gravel. This rocky hill was almost like a miniature mountain. I didn't have Hank here to look at the geological formations of the rocks here to confirm or deny that thought so I pushed it to the back of my mind.

Rhyhorn started to slow down as venomoth flitted in a circle around one spot over a spike of rock. The ground sloped up towards rocky spires that pointed up into the sky. They were similar to the formations found in some deserts where the ground had eroded away at the softer spots but the harder top covering of rock kept the pillar underneath from washing away as quickly.

'Keep walking,' I instructed my tauros. I was going to have to train him like a horse so he understood touch signals when I ride him again in the future. It should be an easy task. In theory at least. He seemed like he would listen to me. I had a suspicion that the other tauros had beaten him into obedient submission long before I had turned up in this world.

As we got closer to the stone spire where venomoth was flying in circles I could start to see more over the rise. Where we were was the top of a rise that overlooked as small valley. The valley held a hidden oasis in the most hostile looking part of the safari. Sharp jagged rocks overhung the oasis in the valley creating a concave cliff.

Inside the valley was a deep water pool surrounded by lush green grass. Around the edges of the valley were deep crags in the rock that looked like they went down into caves. There were a few trees around the pool. The trees were full of berries and untouched. 'Venomoth, find a way down for us.' I said to them.

'Moth!' venomoth responded before beginning to fly around to area. 'Wow!' Mandy said as Mr Grumpy and the others came up next to us. I was going to have to think of a few names for my new pokemon. This was going to get interesting trying to think of names for them. Especially when we had doubled up on catching the same things.

'I can understand why no trainers explore up to this point. From down there this hill looks like a barren waste where nothing would be. I didn't notice any Pokemon on the way here during our run either. They must avoid this spot for some reason.' Janice remarked.

Venomoth came back over to us and shook its head at me. 'What do you mean no?' I asked as I looked at the moth trying to understand. Communicating with my Pokemon was a little tricky without Odd's help. 'Is there no way down?' Janice asked. Venomoth looked at her and nodded confirmation to her question.

'I know how we can get down there. You might not like it though.' I said to them. 'What do you have in mind?' Mrs Williams asked. 'We use the vines from the victreebel, weepinbell and the bellsprout that we found. We get them to lower us down one at a time.' I suggested. 'But they will try to eat us!' Mandy said with a little scared squeak. 'If they do then all we have to do is return them to their pokeballs and try something else.' I said with a shrug.

'I packed extra rope and harnesses, why don't we just shimmy down and then in the morning climb back up?' Janice suggested with an amused laugh. 'Sounds good.' I said as I got down from my tauros and stood beside him. 'If you are getting me down there, then you are hoisting me back up in the morning.' Mrs Williams warned us. 'Easily done Ma. I can get us all in and out safely, I've done this plenty of times before.' Janice confirmed with a smile.

Janice also dismounted and took her backpack off. She started to dig around in it pulling out ropes and harnesses along with clips and metal rings. She laid them out on the rocks as she got the gear ready. The rest of us waited for her.

Cecilia played with the venomoth, Mr Grumpy, her new slowpoke and her new nidoran. After a few minutes Cecilia was laughing. 'Aunty Milo look!' She called to me. She had climbed onto venomoth's back and he was fluttering around in a low circle under her weight. 'Venomoth needs to strengthen their wings more.' I said with a laugh while I watched venomoth give Cecilia a ride around.

'Be careful Cecilia!' Mandy called from where she was sitting on the ground. Mandy had taken out the two slowpoke that she had caught for herself and clyde and she was rubbing their bellies while they continued to snooze. 'So so chubby and cute!' She cooed to them while they happily snored, probably not even knowing they had been caught and were no longer wild. If they knew they had been caught they clearly didn't care and were busy reveling in the belly rubs they greedily took in their sleep.

Once we were all safely in the valley with our ropes tied and waiting for use again in the morning, we started to set up camp. We all let all of our Pokemon out to get some more fresh air and get used to us. If we could get some training in tonight with them before bed then we would have a chance at finding chansey in the morning and any other bonuses that might come our way.

Over all we have five slowpoke (that we all wrote our names on with a texta that Cecilia had so we didn't get them mixed up!) three tauros, a venomoth, a tangela, a victreebel, rhyhorn, a male nidoran, paras and a weepinbell.

Telling the three tauros appart was easy enough to do. Janice's tauros as very skittish and couldn't seem to relax. Mrs Williams' tauros walked with his head held high in a way to show the other two that he was still the boss. Mine was the biggest one in size but he kept his head low and tried to stay out of trouble.

The Pokemon that we had found from the suspected dead and eaten trainer we had decided to return to the Safari Zone officials when we reported the death of the other trainer in the morning. We didn't let these pokemon out of their balls to interact with the ones that we had caught for ourselves.

Despite being the one who had catching goals while I was here, and doing my best to preserve my number of safari balls I had thrown the most of them. I had thrown seven of my thirty safari balls. I still had a chansey to find, and a fabled surviving aerodactyl.

After we set up we all decided to take a break.

I was sitting at the edge of the pool watching goldeen swim just under the surface. Mrs Williams sat with me in silence while she fed them crumbs of pokemon food. The skinny goldeen greedily ate the food she threw for them.

My new slowpoke was cuddled up next to me. He wasn't asleep, he just stared into space. He smiled every time I scratched him behind the ears. I would also hear a slow thumping from his tail as he wagged it up and down against the soft dirt at seemingly random intervals after I scratched him behind the ears.

Mandy and Janice were cooking supper while Cecilia continued to play with the majority of the pokemon. My victreebel was up one of the berry trees, sulking. I looked up at him with a thoughtful hum. He was hanging over the pool on a thick tree branch, watching the goldeen.

'Hey!' I called him. I knew he was male now. I scanned him into my PokeGear and registered him. He looked down at me with narrowed eyes. 'I have a job for you.' I called up to him. He eyed my suspiciously. 'We need your help to go fishing. If you help, I will let you go on one last hunt to eat any wild Pokemon you want in the Safari Zone before we leave. I won't stop you or take your meal away. I will also leave you out of your poke ball all night if you agree not to eat anyone here in the valley right now.' I said as I bargained with him.

He seemed to think for a moment. 'Victreebel… bel!' He finally agreed with a nod. He wasn't happy that I had caught him, but he respected my brutality and bravery at fighting him myself rather than using another Pokemon on him. He still had that bloodied shoelace hanging from his mouth and bloody drop stains over his body and on some of his vines. He must have really sliced and diced whoever that person was that he had eaten.

'I want you to hold a bait as deep as you can under the pool of water and wait for something to bite. When that happens I want you to pull that pokemon out of the water so we can see what is down there.' I said to him camly. He looked at me like I was crazy.

'He probably won't do it Milo. It's too scary.' Mrs Williams stage whispered to me loud enough for victreebel to hear. 'Vic? BEL!' He stammered looking shocked, and then angry. He used a vine to take a chunk of the pokefood from Mrs Williams hand and then plunge his vine into the pool as deep as he could reach. He used some of his other vines to anchor himself into the tree better while he waited for a bite.

Mrs Williams shot me a sly wink, she threw some more food into the pond before tossing a safari ball at a goldeen. The goldeen vanished in a flash of red, spooking the rest of them down to the depths. 'Grab the ball!' She quickly said to the victreebel. At her panicked tone he quickly reached and grabbed the ball handing it to her before glaring at her when he realised what she had done. He wasn't happy about being tricked but he didn't retaliate.

The ball wobbled in Mrs Williams hands and gave a 'Click!' She then released the goldeen into the water to keep swimming around again. She threw in some more food to feed her new goldeen more. Soon its friends were back. She threw two more balls at the surface so they would bounce on the water when they snapped shut.

Two more goldeen were caught as victreebel scooped the balls out of the water and handed them over to Mrs Williams again. Both of the balls clicked before even wobbling. Mrs Williams released them both into the pool again and continued to throw crumbs of food to them. They must have liked her for feeding them. The goldeen all looked very skinny and short on food. 'Maybe Splash can dig me a pond and fill it with water so I can keep those three fed. I always wanted an ornamental pond but never got around to it.' Mrs Williams said with a small laugh. 'That sounds like it would be a nice place to relax around your house.' I said to her with a small smile.

'Dinner is ready!' Mandy called to us. Mrs Williams returned her three goldeen back into their balls and packed them into her bag. I gave my slowpoke another scratch behind the ears before getting up to go where the food was. Victreebel kept fishing as my slowpoke slowly toddled after me. 'Slowpoke?' they called me as they followed after me. I looked over my shoulder to see them sniffing the air while they slowly padded along the grass.

'What did you make?' Mrs Williams asked. It wasn't just the people who had gathered to the call of food. 'Well I made yummy steamed bits for the hungry pokemon, and I made a curry noodle soup for the hungry humans.' Mandy announced proudly.

Mrs Williams nodded her approval as she was handed a takeaway container of soup and a plastic travel spoon. She sat down on the plush grassy ground and started eating. Mandy handed Cecilia the next bowl of food before handing one to Janice and myself. Mandy then went around with all of the large feeding bowls for the pokemon (that Janice had brought in her Silph Co backpack) and started to set out food for all of our new pokemon.

The curry soup was nice and warm in the belly after a long day. The sun was starting to dip a little lower now and the shadows were getting longer. (Even though this valley was already mostly in shade. 'This is really good Mandy. Is it your recipe?' I asked her. Mandy shook her head. 'No, Janice taught this to me just now. I'm glad that it worked out.' She said to me with a smile.

I couldn't help but laugh a little as I looked at Janice and raised my spoon to her. 'Janice you are a good teacher.' I said in a teasing and joking tone. Janice scoffed at me in false offence before smirking. 'I didn't grow up on terrible food! How did you think I became a pokemon champion?' She asked me with a laugh. 'Your Mother's help and blind luck.' I retorted quickly which made Mrs Williams laugh.

'Aunty Milo! Aunty Janice is a very good teacher. She is very smart!' Cecilia said to me with a pout to defend her other Aunty. 'I know Cecilia, I'm only playing with her. See she isn't angry at me.' I said with a chuckle. Janice looked at Cecilia with a smile and a wink. 'We are just playing kiddo!' Janice confirmed.

The smell of curry noodle soup and the steaming pokemon food filled the little valley. It put everyone at ease, even victreebel. We ate in peace, until a harsh pokemon cry echoed from one of the many crevices around the edges of the little valley.

Janice was the first to put her food down with a scowl. She pulled out her gun and held it at the ready as she looked around. The sound was too echoed to tell which direction it had come from, but it definitely from one of the caves that opened into this valley. I put my own food down and quickly crawled over to my backpack. I dug in there until I found my hand pickaxe. I moved to stand with my back to the group, looking around.

'I don't know what that was but it sounded hungry.' I said to Janice over my shoulder while she covered my six. We kept Mrs Williams, Mandy and Cecilia between us. They had all stopped eating and moved into a tight huddle, back to back. Our newly caught Pokémon also huddled with them, looking around nervously. (Minus the slowpoke who were all in their own little psychic worlds of seeing more visions than their minds could process at once.)

I saw the victreebel roll his eyes at us as he kept fishing. I gave a snort at his eye roll but felt that being alert was more important than disciplining the giant man-eating plant. He must have known what was coming, or he just didn't care.

The pokemon cry that had disturbed us from dinner sounded again but much closer and louder this time. Mr Grumpy gave an anxious snort and pawed at the ground as he looked around. The tauros were circling. With nowhere to run they opted for nervously trotting in a circle behind each other so they could see in all directions at once.

There was a cracking and crumbling sound coming from one of the caves as dust started to kick up from somewhere inside of it. Suddenly a torrent of rocks surrounded by mysterious purple smoke flew into the clearing right at us. 'Tuck and roll! MOVE!' I yelled at everyone behind me as I started to run to the side of the attack to get out of the way. I assumed that is what the move ancient power looked like.

The air rippled over me in a cone shape that sped at the flying rocks. It looked like a psybeam. It slowed down the rocks to the point that they crashed into the ground before reaching the main gathering of everyone together. I looked up to see that venomoth was watching the cave intently where the rocks had come from while they fluttered in the spot in the air.

Another roar sounded before the pokemon showed its face. Actually there were several of them that burst from the cave and they were not happy that we were in their valley. This was going to bloody quickly.


	22. Chapter 22

Black Lightning Chapter 22

From the cave burst several very angry aerodactyl. I didn't have the time to count them right this very second. The rumours were true! I was equal parts delighted and kicking myself for being right. I hated that I had put them all in danger for my own pursuit of knowledge.

"BANG!"

I herd Janice fire a round at one of the oncoming aerodactyl. 'Grumpy rock throw!' Cecilia's voice yelled from somewhere behind me. 'Stan horn attack!' Mrs Williams ordered. At least both of them were straight into the battle.

I had to get my head in the game. One of the aerodactyl was flying right at me with its jaws wide and teeth glowing. Another damned crunch attack probably. I wasn't going to get caught by another one of those! Anger started to boil in me as I was reminded of Lee and Pooch.

I spun my pickaxe in my hand and ran into the attack with a yell. I swung the blunt edge of the pickaxe up under the aerodactyl's jaw as I twisted to the side to steer its momentum away from me. It's outstretched wing caught me in the hip and we were both sent tumbling into the plush grass. I dropped the pickaxe when we went down.

We tumbled into the group of daydreaming slowpoke. I would have stayed down and winded but the adrenaline helped me focus on fighting for my life. A growl came from above me. The aerodactyl had landed on top of me. It's eyes were spinning from the hit under the chin. I elbowed up into its chin again for good measure.

I twisted my legs around under it before kicking it off me. I reached into the pouch on my belt and dropped a safari ball on it as I got back onto my feet and looked around. Everyone was caught in combat except for victreebel and the group of daydreaming slowpoke. Victreebel was ignoring us and continued to fish.

One!

Mandy wasn't coping with the battle. I wasn't sure she knew how to battle. Her new weepinbell was acting on its own in this one. For now weepinbell was protecting Mandy. "BANG!" Janice fired another round at another aerodactyl that was flying right at her.

Two!

I took out another safari ball and threw it at the aerodactyl that was about to swoop Janice down.

Three!

The swooping ancient pterosaur was pulled into the ball in a flash of red light. 'Horn attack nidoran! You too Grumpy!' Cecilia commanded both of them as she stood next to Mr Grumpy. I could see that she had a safari ball ready to throw.

Four!

One!

'Paras return! Stan stomp!' Mrs Williams commanded. Paras had fainted and was about to be eaten.

Five!

Two!

"Venomoth supersonic! Tangela use vine whip! Tauros follow Stan's lead!' I called out to my pokemon as I looked around for any that may have fainted. None had gone down yet. The same couldn't be said for Mandy's weepinbell, that thing was taking a beating from two aerodactyl.

Click!

Three!

"BANG! BANG!" Janice fired more rounds, this time at the two aerodactyl fighting over weepinbell and trying to rip it apart. The shots burst through the skin of their wings but they continued what they were doing. They completely ignored the pain. They really were the brutal pokemon.

Four!

'MANDY! THROW A DAMNED BALL OR TEN AT THEM!" I yelled at her to snap her out of it. She had frozen in place with panic. I could see tears starting to stream from her eyes.

Five!

Mandy shakily took a ball out and threw it as the weepinbell fainted in the jaws of both aerodactyl. At the same time Cecilia threw a ball at the other one of the aerodactyl that had weepinbell in its jaws. Both turned into a flash of red light. Weepinbell fell to the ground.

Six!

One!

One!

I heard a roar behind me that made me turn around. An aerodactyl with slightly different colouring on it that was bigger than the others was flying at me with its jaws open. It had decided to show itself from the cave. It must have been watching from the shadows. I had dropped the pickaxe somewhere before when I was knocked over. I forgot to pick it back up! 'Shit!'

Seven!

Two!

Click!

'Psybeam!' I thought in my head before I could voice the words. 'Moth!' I heard as the air distorted at the shiny aerodactyl's head as it was hit by psybeam. It wobbled in its path before it was hit from above by a tackle from Venomoth. I hadn't said anything, only imagined that I would like those attacks to happen. I must have somehow voiced the orders into venomoth's mind with my thoughts. No time to dwell on that thought though to figure it out right now.

Eight!

Three!

'Ma! Return weepinbell! Get slowpoke to fight!' Cecilia yelled at Mandy as she returned her nidoran as he fainted from a hit from rock throw. It was utter chaos here! The shiny ancient looking aerodactyl kicked up off the grass from under venomoth. Venomoth went tumbling backwards off the shiny aerodactyl's back. He charged at me again with renewed momentum,completely ignoring venomoth.

Nine!

Four!

I heard Mandy return her weepinbell as another "BANG!" deafened us. 'Victreebel!' I heard him call out to me. I slipped my foot back as I held my arms up in a defencive stance to block the upper and lower jaw of the aerodactyl, just in time for impact. I skidded back on my toes from the force of their momentum when their jaws hit my arms on contact.

Click!

Click!

'Milo!' Mrs Williams yelled at me. I gave a grunt as the shiny aerodactyl growled while my arms blocked his jaws from biting me. I spun around while he pressed against me. I could feel the length of their jaws against my back as I spun and elbowed them in the side of the head before following with a downward chop at the back of his head.

The aerodactyl rolled as it fell to the ground, sweeping me up off my feet to throw me over itself before slamming me into the grass. I gave a cough as I tried to roll with the throw. The aerodactyl was on top of me and opened his jaws to bite down at me.

I grunted and kicked my knee up at the aerodactyl, up between the legs. I was hoping to be faster and that it was male. It froze in place from the impact and gave a shuttered breath. It's open maw was paused just above my face. I kicked my knee up again as I balled my hands together and swung them over myself to hit the shiny aerodactyl off me sideways by striking the side of his face. I got lucky this time.

'DRATINI!' I heard the high pitched voice sound among the roars as another shot was fired. The shiny aerodactyl stiffly rolled off me from the hit. I coughed and panted trying to catch my breath. That slam into the grass had winded me.

I reached into my ball pouch and hit the shiny aerodactyl next to me with a safari ball making it vanish in a flash of red light. I dropped the safari ball on the grass.

One!

I forced myself to roll over and get up again.

Two!

I looked up to see there were still five more aerodactyl terrorising the camp.

Three!

Struggled movement caught my eyes over the pond. Victreebel had caught a dratini from the pool and was holding it in a wrap. 'Victreebel!' He called me again as the dratini tried to struggle free.

Four!

'Janice!' I coughed her name. My voice hardly came out more than a whisper.

Five!

'JANICE! Throw ball! Dratini!' I yelled at her before coughing more. My chest felt bruised and it was difficult to catch my breath right now.

POP!

Janice turned and saw the dratini just as the shiny aerodactyl broke out of the ball. 'Tauros horn attack!' Janice ordered as she scrambled for a safari ball with one hand while firing another shot at an aerodactyl.

The shiny aerodactyl next to me growled as it scrambled on the ground to get up again. I kicked it in the side of the throat to wind it. It flopped onto the ground gasping and coughing. I dropped another safari ball on it and looked over to victreebel.

One!

The dratini vanished in a flash of red light. 'Victreebel Acid the remaining aerodactyl NOW!' I ordered him as I did my best to stay on my feet. My whole body was aching. My chest felt tight while I tried to catch my breath.

Two!

One!

I noticed then that Mrs Williams threw a safari ball. Tangela was fainted and about to be eaten by an aerodactyl while it used rock throw on one of the tauros.

Three!

Two!

One!

I took tangela's ball from my belt and returned him before looking around for my other pokemon. Victreebel was fine and shooting an acid attack at one of the aerodactyl that was about to attack one of the slowpoke. My tauros was still ok for now. Venomoth could have looked better but they could still fly.

POP!

Three!

Two!

The shiny aerodactyl burst out of the safari ball again. 'Venomoth protect Mandy! Slowpoke water gun over here!' I said loudly as I kicked the snarling pterosaur in the face to turn his jaws away from me.

Four!

Click!

I heard Mrs Williams pokeball click in confirmation that she had caught an aerodactyl. I had noticed that one of the slowpoke had taken a hit from a stray rockthrow and was alert from the pain. It was a curious thing to see a slowpoke with alert and focused eyes. The slowpoke let loose a torrent of water at the snarling aerodactyl.

Five!

'Slowpoke yawn at a different aerodactyl!' I ordered it as the water gun died down. I dropped another safari ball on the shiny aerodactyl. He was one tough pterosaur.

Six!

One!

There were four more aerodactyl to catch. Cecilia and Mandy threw a ball each. 'Horn attack!' Janice yelled at her tauros who looked worse for wear.

Seven!

Two!

One!

One!

Now only two flying aerodactyl left. I took out venomoth's ball and returned them just as they fainted in the air.

Eight!

Three!

Two!

Two!

'Victreebel sucker punch one and vine whip the other!' I ordered, just as one of the aerodactyl was caught in slowpoke's yawn. The dratini was taking its sweet time getting caught.

Nine!

Click!

Three!

Three!

I picked up the safari ball that held the shiny aerodactyl and released him. 'Use Ancient power on your old friends!' I ordered him as I let him out. Janice threw a safari ball at the aerodactyl that fainted two of the tauros with a rock throw.

Ten!

Four!

Four!

One!

'Tauros return!' I returned my fallen tauros as fast as I could before he could hit the ground. The shiny aerodactyl roared as the ground started to rip under us as rocks came up and then flung at the remaining aerodactyl. All of the thrown pieces of ground were trailing purple smoke.

Pop!

Five!

Click!

Two!

The dratini escaped but Janice was quick to throw another ball. She wanted that dragon. The ancient power attack hit the last wild aerodactyl and sent it into the side of the valley wall. It fainted before it hit the ground.

Six!

Click!

One!

'Catch it Cecilia!' I yelled at her. Cecilia was quick to respond by throwing a ball.

Seven!

Two!

One!

I took that as my chance to let out a breath of relief. We actually survived the attack with newly caught and mostly low level pokemon. I hadn't even seen most of the fighting but if it was as brutal as my little corner of the valley and the others survived then they did extremely well under the circumstances.

Pop!

Three!

Two!

One of the aerodactyl burst out of their ball. 'Mr Grumpy horn attack!' Cecilia ordered. Mr Grumpy charged at the dazed aerodactyl, knocking it into the dirt.

Four!

Three!

Cecilia threw another ball at the aerodactyl. It vanished in a flash of red light.

Click!

Click!

One!

We all watched as the last ball as it wobbled on the ruined ground. I returned the shiny aerodactyl not trusting him. He had obeyed my command but he still had that mean look in his eyes like he wanted to bite my head off.

Two!

Victreebel was the only Pokemon of my team other than slowpoke that hadn't fainted.

Three!

Most of the slowpoke had been hurt by the cross fire but none of them seriously injured.

Four!

Mrs Williams had run out of Pokémon to battle with. Paras and Stan had both fainted. The three goldeen she had caught weren't even considered for use in this battle. They were all malnourished and starving. They wouldn't have lasted. I'm not sure what she did to survive this battle. Maybe throwing safari balls while I wasn't paying attention was how she made it? I couldn't be sure.

Five!

Janice still had her tauros standing. Her slowpoke was rolled on their back half asleep, half wedged under a rock.

Six!

Cecilia still had Mr Grumpy. Mr Grumpy had taken a few hits but he had dealt more than what he had taken. Cecilia had really done well working with him in this battle.

Seven!

Mandy sat on the belly of one of her slowpoke as she silently cried in shock. She didn't cope well with this level of violence. We might need to find another place to camp for the night.

Click!

'Finally!' Cecilia said as she ran over and picked up the safari ball. She clicked it onto her belt before going and collecting her other two safari balls off the ground where she had thrown them.

Seeing her do this everyone else sheepishly moved to pick up the safari balls that they had thrown. (myself included) All of us except for Mandy, she stayed where she was silently crying.

Mrs Williams went over to mandy to try and console her. I dusted myself off and looked across to victreebel with a smirk. 'That was impressive. I think I have a name for you that you will like.' I said to him as I walked over to him.

Victreebel eyed me silently as I walked up to him. 'Triffid. It might sound strange but where I am from it holds a meaning that you might enjoy. Where I am from a Triffid is a large killer plant that eats everyone it finds.' I explained to him while I watched his reaction. Victreebel seemed to think about it before the top of his head gave a bobbing motion. It looked like he was nodding.

'Triffid it is. I'm not going to return you yet. We might need your help to get out of here. Mandy, I don't think will be able to fall asleep if we stay the night here.' I said while I watched him. He didn't react, but he didn't oppose the idea either. When he wasn't struggling with the dratini he must have been watching me fight the aerodactyl without much help from my pokemon team.

Something caught the corner of my eye next to my fallen pickaxe on the ground. One of the rocks that one of the pokemon had thrown had a strange impurity on it.

I went over to the rock, picking up the pickaxe on the way. I stiffly knelt down to the rock and chipped at it carefully with the pickaxe. The rock crumbled away under my careful strikes. The crumbling rock revealed a fossil!

I quickly and carefully chipped away at the rock revealing more fossils. This must have been an ancient sea bed. The rock was riddled on the inside with helix fossils and the odd dome fossil. Every fossil that I seperated from the main chunk of rock I put into my pockets.

I was distracted from my mini excavation by Janice. 'Milo, we are getting out of this crag. Mandy can't cope here. We need to move camp. What is that? Are those fossils?' Janice said to me before she noticed what I was actually doing.

'Yeah. There are heaps of them here in just this rock! The ground here must be full of them.' I said as I looked up at her. Janice looked at me for a moment before she gave a hum. A thought had distracted her.

'You know how I have that secret illegal 'house' in the Indigo plateau cliffs, under the elite four?' Janice asked me as she looked at me. 'Yes. What about it?' I asked her. I wondered where her mind had suddenly gone.

'You should do that here in this spot. Clean it up again and make a hidden shelter in one of the crags. With the war coming and your plans to teach a Pokemon how to teleport this could be the perfect hideout.' She suggested.

That was an interesting thought. I would have a secret supply of fossils that I could revive and sell to people as an income while also being in a place that not many could get to. Even if it was illegal, desperate times called for desperate measures. I had a museum to get revenge against and a war to hide from. This place was perfect if it didn't house more killer, angry aerodactyl. If it did then I would just catch them.

I stood up and looked over to the camp that we had set up earlier. It was in a mess. The soft plush grass was ruined by the spray of rocks everywhere. One of the trees had been uprooted and thrown over. The tent was broken and our equipment was strewn everywhere.

Cecilia was picking things up and putting them into her backpack. 'Come on Janice. Let's get out of here and maybe revive and restore the tauros so we can all ride out of here and back to the grasslands. At least the pokemon there won't be a surprise encounter.' I said with a drained voice.

Judging by the light in the sky, we had only an hour of daylight left. We needed to find a place and set up camp fast. Janice had used the last of her revives and potions on the tauros and venomoth. We needed venomoth and the tauros to guard us overnight while we slept.

We moved as fast as we could to pack up camp, get back up our ropes and then ride out of there. I was glad that venomoth knew where that little valley was. I was going to exploit the crap out of that hole in the ground and venomoth's local knowledge of the safari zone.

While we rode on our respective mounts we took stock of our remaining safari balls and scanned and registered our Pokemon with our pokegear. I had eighteen safari balls left. Cecilia had twenty-one, Mrs Williams and Janice had twenty-four and Mandy had only used five of her safari balls so far, leaving her with twenty-five.

Mandy had been the luckiest of us. All of the pokemon that she caught had stayed in on the first ball. She had used five balls and caught five pokemon.

Over all, we discovered that there had been ten aerodactyl in that flock. Cecilia and I had caught three of them, Mandy caught two. (much to her horror) Mrs Williams and Jancie had only managed to catch one each. Janice had been too busy battling and waiting for that dratini to show itself to catch any more than just one aerodactyl.

Mandy was uncertain about if she wanted to keep a set of such mean pokemon. She held onto them for now so she could talk it over with Clyde. Mandy also seemed to feel sorry for her weepinbell. She didn't seem scared of it any more. It had done its best to protect her and itself in the fight.

Mandy had named her weepinbell Hero. Hero was male and according to the PokeGear, had only evolved recently. The two aerodactyl that Mandy caught were also male. She didn't name them yet. She wasn't happy with them for attacking her Hero.

Mandy's two slowpoke were female. She had named one of them Squish. (the fatter smaller one. She liked her slowpoke extra chubby and huggable.) Mandy didn't name the other one. She wanted to give the other slowpoke to Clyde as a surprise present. It was endearing the way she talked about him. Even if it had an annoying teenager kind of tone to it, she really loved Clyde.

Mrs Williams had caught almost an all female team. The only pokemon that wasn't female was Stan. She planned to keep the goldeen as ornamental pokemon more than for battle, they were yet to be named. The Paras she caught she had named Perdi. Perdi may have been the first to faint but Mrs Williams told me that she had been a brave little fighter for such a low level paras.

Cecilia had the opposite luck to her grandmother. She had caught an almost all male team. Only one of the aerodactyl that she managed to catch was female. Cecilia was determined to keep everything that she caught. She was eager to build a super strong team to become a champion as soon as possible.

The female Aerodactyl was the only female that Cecilia had ever caught. Cecilia quite conveniently named her female aerodactyl Miss Girly. The others in her catch were Mr Grumpy, (The rhyhorn) Mr Sleepy, (The slowpoke) Mr Spikey, (The nidoran) Mr Teeth and Mr Old. (the two male aerodactyl. Mr Old was so old that the PokeGear couldn't put an age on him. Under the "Age" part of the information it only read "ANCIENT!")

I had to give Cecilia credit. She had a theme for her naming of this group. I wondered when the nincada evolved, would she name one of them Mr Nin and the other Mr Cada?

Janice had named her slowpoke (male) Pudge. He was fatter than Mandy's Squish but his individual stats were excellent. He was a tank like Brute. Brute was what Janice named her tauros.

The dratini and aerodactyl that Janice managed to catch were both females. (Much to her delight. She wanted to breed both of them as well as train them to be absolutely formidable.) Janice had named the Dratini Reena and the aerodactyl Mrs Colson. Apparently Mrs Colson was her mathematics teacher as a child and she was a mean old dragon lady. According to Janice, Mrs Colson was more frightening and mean than her mother.

The females on my team were slowpoke (whom I had named Glitz) and the two regular coloured aerodactyl that I had caught. I was yet to name either of them.

The rest were all male. The only two that I had named were Triffid (the victreebel) and Chucky (the tangela.)

I still wasn't sure if I was keeping Chucky. He was rare for sure, but his stats were average and I had only caught him for the thrill of the catch.

Chucky was a scaredy vine, excellent at hiding but he wasn't brave. I needed pokemon that could stand their ground and not be so scared of almost everything! I had also noticed Janice eyeing him off. I silently considered trading Chucky to her for something that I could actually use. Chucky didn't seem to like me much either (actually the ball of vines was terrified of me) which didn't help our immediate relationship either. I could deal with my pokemon not liking me, but trying to work with a pokemon that was just plain terrified of me wasn't going to work. At least the ones that didn't like me were not so scared of me that they couldn't follow instructions effectively because they were too scared to move!

The sun dipped under the horizon as we got to the edge of the grasslands. 'Mandy are you ok to sleep here for the night? The sun just set and we need to stop somewhere and set up before it really gets dark.' Janice said to her as she tugged her rope reins on Brute to make him stop walking.

'This is ok. I think I am ok now.' Mandy answered in a quiet voice. Her eyes were glazed over. She didn't look around, she was just going along with us now. She was too upset to really do much. She had been riding on Mr Grumpy with Cecilia. She had cuddled Squish for the whole ride like squish was a giant stuffed animal. (Squish had kind of acted like a stuffed animal. She didn't move and just stared into space in silence)

My tauros stopped and let me dismount. I took my backpack off my back and unclipped my bed roll. I walked over to a patch of long grass and walked it flat before unrolling my bedroll over the top of it. I ignored everyone for now while I set up for the night.

Everyone else also set up for the night. Mandy and Cecilia were helped by Mrs WIlliams and Janice. Mrs Williams and Janice seemed to be experienced campers themselves. Cecilia was learning how it all worked still and Mandy was in too much shock to be useful.

I put my backpack at the head of my bedroll to use it as a pillow. As promised I released Triffid and venomoth. After a moment of thinking I also released my slowpoke, Glitz. More to keep myself warm through the night than for actual protection.

Triffid looked around for a place to hang for the night. There were no trees here. Triffid compromised for lack of trees by climbing up to the top of a large rock and holding himself up there with his vines. He settled there and watched while we set up camp. 'No eating venomoth! You can eat any Pokemon that try to attack us in our sleep but none of our own. You are one of us now, we are a family. No eating family!' I warned Triffid. He rolled his eyes at me as he seemed to sigh. 'Vic…' He answered me in a defeated tone.

His answer satisfied me well enough as I looked up at the venomoth. They fluttered above me waiting for instructions. 'I need to name you still. Right now I can't think of anything good so I am going to sleep on it, but I do have a job for you. We need some chansey to heal up the rest of our team and to catch for future use. I want you to spend the night looking for all of the chansey that you can and remember where they sleep. When the sun rises we won't have much time before we need to leave this place. We still need time to travel to the exit and get out of here in time.' I instructed the venomoth. Venomoth nodded before flying into the night sky as dusk set in. The first stars for the night had already begun to show.

I looked back to Triffid. 'Triffid, wake me at dawn without hurting me.' I said to him as I shrugged my overcoat off my shoulders. My body was feeling stiff and heavy from all of the hits I had taken. The pockets of my overcoat were still full of dome and helix fossils. I laid the overcoat over the back of my tauros like a blanket for him.

'You will get a name soon too once I think of one.' I said to him quietly before hugging him around the neck. 'Rest tonight. Tomorrow is going to be just as insane and tiring on all of us.' I said to him quietly. 'Taur!' Tauros responded with a quiet but deep bellowing sound.

Without thinking of the others I rolled my daydreaming slowpoke next to my bed roll and then climbed into bed. I cuddled the slowpoke for warmth, resting my head on my lumpy backpack.

Hank was going to kill me when he found out about today's Safari adventure. I hoped that the gift of a shiny aerodactyl would dispel some of his rage that I had no doubt he would feel. I was going to be exhausted tomorrow night and at our honeymoon. I could feel the bruises all over my body along with the remains of the cuts that I had gotten from Triffid earlier today.

My eyelids went heavy and I was soon out to the world. I had forgotten to wish the others a good night. It had been a huge day of being summoned to the elite four by the secret pokemon society, dress shopping and then binge catching some very wild pokemon. Every part of me was strained and exhausted and needed a good deep sleep.

A good deep sleep is exactly what I got that night.


	23. Chapter 23

Sources

Kanto Safari Zone:

wiki/Kanto_Safari_Zone

Pokemon that could learn Teleport:

/move/teleport

Black Lightning Chapter 23

I was woken up the next morning by a lick to my face. It was wet and cold. I groaned as I slowly regained consciousness. 'Slow!' I heard before I was licked again right across the face. I could feel some of the saliva run up my nose from off the tastebuds of the tongue that was licking me.

My body was stiff and sore everywhere. I wiped my face with my hand to try and get the slobber off before opening my eyes. Glitz was looking right at my face only inches away. She slowly smiled before saying 'Poke!' in a happy greeting.

It was still dark. The air had a wet chill to it. It must have been close to dawn. The area was lit up by the stars and the half moon that still hung over the sky. 'Glitz… why? What time is it?' I asked in a quiet groan. 'Oh Five hundred and a half hours.' I heard a whisper from close by.

Mrs Williams was up and dressed already. She was feeding Triffid some poke food. Close by I could hear our three tauros snoring.

I slowly forced myself to sit up. I gritted my teeth and hissed quietly. I could feel that my whole midsection was bruised from my hips to my ribs. 'Your slowpoke has been asking me permission to wake you up for the past half an hour.' Mrs Williams said to me in an amused whisper. I slowly got up onto my feet to carefully stretch. 'Slow!' Glitz agreed in a delayed response.

I reached down and scratched Glitz behind the ears, just the way she seemed to like it. I was rewarded by a slow smile and the delayed thumping of her tail very slowly wagging. 'I'm guessing ration bars for breakfast?' I asked in a quiet whisper as I looked across to Mrs Williams. 'Correct!' She answered quietly.

I walked over to my sleeping tauros and slowly took my overcoat off of his back. I then stiffly put it on before going back to my backpack. My tauros had kept my coat nice and warm for me overnight. I had packed my own rations for breakfast. While I looked for food I heard a melodic quiet voice. 'Venomoth.' I was called by the voice.

I looked up from my searching in the dark to see venomoth fluttering overhead. 'Did you have any luck?' I asked in a whisper. I was sure that Cecilia, Mandy and Janice were still sleeping. Venomoth gave a nod.

It was then that his name came to me. 'Scout… I'm going to name you Scout. Good job. Once everyone wakes up and eats we will go. We only have limited time.' I said to him with a smile.

'What was he looking for?' I heard Janice ask in a whisper in the dark. 'Chansey. You are going to need one as much as the rest of us.' I responded to her before starting to dig through my pack again for food. I decided that I would pack up my bedroll after I ate. I was suddenly too hungry to focus on anything else right now.

'Chansey is cute…' I heard Mandy groggily whisper and then Cecilia giggle. 'So we are all awake now?' Mrs Williams asked, this time not whispering. 'Yes!' Cecilia answered happily.

Finally! Food! I had found a ration bar in my bag. I tore the wrapper open and started eating it. I looked up at Scout who was watching me with expectant eyes. I had packed food for any pokemon that I was lucky enough to catch. Now was the time to reward my hard working Scout.

I held the ration bar in my mouth as I dug through my pack again. I pulled out a container of extra nutritious, extra filling Pokemon food that I had bought on my shopping trip with Mandy. I put my pack down and opened the container before holding it up with one hand for Scout to help himself.

Scout fluttered over to help himself to the food while I continued to eat my ration bar. I smiled while I ate and watched him. In the moonlight I could see him grab the bits of food with his front legs and lift it up to his mandibles to eat it. He hummed a happy tune while he ate.

Janice, Mandy and Cecilia were sitting up and also going through their own bags to get their own breakfast.

After we ate, we packed everything up again and woke up our tauros and fed them. Cecilia released Mr Grumpy and fed him also. I returned Triffid for now. I owed him a last quick hunt before we left, but for the practicality of traveling as fast as possible, it was better he was in his ball.

We followed Scout in the dark, this time going around the forest full of victreebel and sticking to the grasslands. While we followed Scout I could see his wings glitter in the moonlight from his silver tinted, poisonous dust feathers. Venomoth definitely looked better under moonlight than they did under the sunlight.

We had decided to run the first stretch before Scout slowed down and circled over a patch of very long grass. The grass was taller than us while we were riding our pokemon. 'Janice you can have the first one.' I said to her as I saw her take out her PokeGear and start to scan ahead into the tall grass.

We waited as Janice rode Brute into the tall grass ahead of us. Cecilia and I got ready to throw a Safari ball while we waited. If it got away from Janice and ran this way we could get it. Mrs Williams noticed this and she too got a ball ready. Cecilia tapped Mandy on the arm to get her ready to throw a ball also.

There was a flash of red light and the sound of a ball snapping shut. Soon there was the sound of a Click followed by a 'Hell YEAH!' from an excited Janice inside of the patch of very tall grass.

Janice's voice must have woken up a small group of pokemon because there was a sudden rush of rustling grass.

Cecilia and Mrs Williams each threw a ball at something in the dark as it tried to rush by. Two smaller pokemon turned into flashes of red light on the ground and the safari balls snapped shut.

One!

One!

'SHIT!' Janice snapped from inside of the tall grass. There was an angry roar and then a flash of red light.

Two!

Click!

'Janice? Are you ok?' I asked her through the tall grass. We still couldn't see her, but we could hear her breathing hard.

Click!

'Yeah. I'm ok. I just got surprised by a kangaskhan. She must have been sleeping nearby.' Janice responded. Mrs Williams and Cecilia dismounted to pick up the safari balls that they had thrown. Once they picked up the safari balls they climbed back onto their mounts. I noticed both of them take out another safari ball ready to throw.

Pop!

The kangaskhan burst out of the safari ball with an angry roar before turning into red light again. 'Moth! Moth! Moth! Moth! Moth!' Scout called out to us to try and get our attention as he fluttered frantically over us.

Click!

'Let me grab my ball!' Janice called up at Scout while he hovered over her. Scout gave a loop in the air before flying after something.

As soon as Scout started flying away our tauros and Mr Grumpy chased after him, following his lead, since we couldn't see where we were running with the grass this tall.

It wasn't long before we broke out of the very tall grass into just long grass. Ahead I could see three chunky shapes fleeing from us, flattening the grass behind them. The flattened grass made a black line behind them while the moon reflected off the long strands that were still standing. Three Chansey. They must have been living in a small group in the very tall grass to hide from being caught.

'I'm going for the one on the right!' Mrs Williams said as she steered Stan to run out to that side. 'I will get the left side!' I said to Janice, Cecilia and Mandy. I leant forward and to the left to hint to my tauros where I wanted him to run.

He picked up my hint. Mr Grumpy ran ahead to chase the chansey in the middle. Now that we could see where we were going the three chansey had decided to try and split up.

I had to admit, I was impressed by their speed. Chansey didn't look built for speed, or for running, but they were VERY good at it. Despite the fact they were fleeing in the long grass. If you have ever tried to run in long grass then you know that there is a lot of resistance as it grabs around your legs making you rip free with every step. Running in long grass is not easy! For some reason the Chansey were experts at it!

I could hear my tauros, and feel him panting hard under me while he continued to give chase. Either he was unfit, or he wasn't used to having to run in long grass. I would have to give him some strength and cardio training to get his fitness up when we got home.

When my tauros got close enough I threw a ball at the running chansey. It vanished in a flash of red light and the ball fell to the ground.

One!

Tauros slowed down to a stop near the wobbling ball.

Two!

I dismounted with a pained grunt, almost falling over when I landed on my feet on the ground.

Click!

I caught it in the first ball. I couldn't help but smile as I picked up the ball and put it onto my belt. Chucky and the three aerodactyl I had put away in my bag. I wasn't planning on using any of them for the rest of the trip.

I looked over to the others to see if they had any luck. I saw two flashes of red light in the distance. A second later there was another burst of light and the chansey tried to flee again before two more red flashes flared up in the area.

I decided to climb back onto my tauros. 'Let's go back to the others.' I said to him. He gave a snort and started to trot over to the rest of the group. He had a spring in his step now that we had caught the chansey. It felt like he was having fun with us.

The other chansey both broke out again only to be quickly caught again. Mrs Williams and Cecilia were fast to throw more safari balls the second the pokemon escaped. As I approached I heard two clicks. They had both been caught.

The sky was starting to brighten up with the signs of the sun about to rise.

Now that we had regrouped we looked up at Scout. 'Any more Chansey?' I asked him. Scout shook his head. 'What about your notes Milo? Anything interesting we could go after before we have to leave?' Janice asked. I gave a hum as I took my pack off my back and brought it around to the front of myself to find my notebook.

'I would like to catch some more cute and not terrifying pokemon since I missed out on a chansey.' Mandy said quietly. 'Its ok Mama. We can share!' Cecilia piped up.

Janice rode over to me and held her PokeGear up over my notebook to light it up with the torch function. 'According to this there is a cold spring on the way back to the exit that has something for all of us. I want a horsea so I can eventually get a kingdra. But that spring also has poliwag, psyduck, magikarp, slowpoke and goldeen.' I said as I read through my notes.

'Psyduck? I like psyduck! They are so chubby and squishy! So CUTE!' Mandy said as she smiled, trying to contain her excitement. I laughed at her reaction as I looked across to her.

I was glad to see she wasn't as shocked and horrified as last night. Last night she had a mental breakdown after the aerodactyl attack. I was glad that the attack hadn't made her scared of ALL pokemon.

'Is there any one who doesn't want to go to the spring and has something else they want to catch?' Janice asked the rest of our group. There was silence. No one was opposed to going. 'Ok then. Shall we go?' I asked with a smile.

Everyone looked up at Scout. I held my notebook up to him to show him the map that I had roughly drawn. 'Scout do you know where this pond is, where the horsea and other Pokemon live?' I asked him.

Scout gave a nod before he started to fly away. The tauros and Mr Grumpy followed him. We went quietly, just in case we came across anything else we wanted to catch. The sun peeked over the horizon and made the grass begin to glow.

'I want one!' Cecilia suddenly said in an excited voice, breaking the silence. 'Want a what?' Mandy asked her. 'Look!' Cecilia pointed to the distance to our right. Scout stopped and looked to see where Cecilia was pointing.

In the distance, on the edge of a patch of trees were two scyther fighting. 'Yes! I want one as well!' Janice said when she spoted them. 'Race you!' Cecilia said as Mandy quickly jumped off Mr Grumpy. Mr Grumpy and Brute started to race to the fighting scyther in the distance.

'Can I ride with you?' Mandy asked as she looked up at me. 'Sure, climb up.' I said to her while I watched Grumpy and Brute race. I put my notebook back into my bag and slung my arms into it to wear it on my front as Mandy climbed up to sit behind me. 'This is much more comfortable than sitting on that big grumpy rhyhorn. I should have caught one of these too!' Mandy said with a sigh.

'You had to be quick.' Mrs Williams said to Mandy in a soft voice. 'I know!' Mandy said in a sad tone. It sounded like she was pouting.

Stan gave a snort and pawed at the ground as he lowered his head. He was warning something to stay back. The long grass in front of us started rustling. From the grass sprang a growling nidorino. 'Catch him Mandy!' I urged her as nidorino's horn started to glow, he lowered his head ready to attack with a horn attack. 'Me?' She asked. 'You regretted not catching a tauros.' I pointed out to her.

I felt Mandy scramble for a ball before she threw it past me and at the nidorino. The nidorino turned into a flash of red light and was pulled into the ball. We all watched in silent anticipation.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Click!

Mandy luck struck again. She caught him on the first ball thrown. Before Mandy could dismount again to collect her new nidorino, a nidorina burst from the grass and stood over the ball with a growl. Mandy didn't need prompting again. She threw another ball at the growling nidorina.

One!

Two!

Click!

Again Mandy luck. It must have been her way of throwing or she really was just a lucky shot.

Mandy dismounted and collected the two balls off the ground. She turned around to face Mrs Williams and myself with a beaming smile. 'I caught more couples pokemon!' She announced happily. Mrs Williams and I chuckled. 'Well done Mandy.' Mrs Williams encouraged her. Mandy looked like she was getting the hang of the whole "catch the Pokemon before they have a chance to attack you trick."

Mandy furrowed her brow as she looked around the grassy area we were in. 'Do any of you see any other pokemon? Maybe something that could be ridden?' She asked us.

In the distance it looked like Cecilia and Janice were having trouble getting the scyther to stay in their safari balls. In the distance in the opposite direction I could see what looked like a few nidoking and nidoqueen.

'I don't see anything rideable in this area. I don't mind if you ride with me though.' I said to Mandy as I looked around and then back to her. 'Aww ok.' She pouted and slumped a little on the spot before standing up tall again and coming over to me. She mounted my tauros and sat behind me.

Janice and Cecilia were on their way back to us after catching the scyther. Scout flew ahead of us at an angle to lead us together into one group, but also in the direction of where we had asked him to lead us. We decided to have Mr Grumpy and the trio of tauros run for this section of the trip too, just to save time.

No one saw anything that they wanted while the pokemon ran.

When we got to the cold spring we all dismounted and let the tauros and Mr Grumpy drink. They were all huffing and puffing after their run and looked grateful for the break. Scout landed next to the water to drink.

I let Triffid out before actually looking around. The pool had trees hugging around it on one side. Triffid saw them and went over to climb them. All around the pool was a mix of pokemon that all looked at us weirily. Psyduck, poliwag and goldeen were the first ones that I noticed. The goldeen here looked much healthier than the ones from the dratini pond. There were a few slowpoke sunbathing in the morning light on the bank of the spring.

I looked at the water then smiled when I saw a small school of three horsea swimming just under the surface. I saw a bit of orange near the bottom of the spring. It looked like there were krabby here too.

Mrs Williams went into her bag and took out her packet of small pieces of pokemon food. She started to bait the water and throw food on the surface. The goldeen and magikarp were the first to get to the food. Soon poliwag were swimming with the goldeen getting the food. The krabby started to come closer to the edge of the spring. Three horsea popped their heads up above the surface of the water to look at us.

I also dug into my bag to look for my own container of pokemon food. Triffid had anchored himself to a tree branch and hung himself over the water. He dropped his extra vines into the water and waited. I smirked a little as I walked over to him with the container of pokemon food. I opened the container and held it out. 'This might help.' I suggested to him.

Triffid looked at me before lifting some of his vines out of the water to grab some food before dropping them back into the water. I don't know where those extra vines came from but they were part of his body and tucked away into hiding when he wasn't using them.

'If you happen to catch a horsea, I would like one after you finish eating.' I said to him quietly. 'Bel…' He responded just as quietly. 'Thank you!' I thanked him and walked back to the group.

Triffid looked like he had gotten a thrill out of fishing yesterday. He was eagerly watching the water with the food in his vines. He still had that hint of hungry bloodlust in his eyes but that was just what he was. Victreebel were predators that ate others to survive. He wasn't evil, he was just part of the food chain that was more graphic and gory than the rest of the food chain. Triffid must have never thought to go fishing for food when he was still wild. This looked like a new novelty activity for him. I had a feeling that I would be taking him on many more fishing trips.

Mandy and Cecilia were feeding the three psyduck together. Mrs Williams let her goldeen out to have a swim in the spring so she could feed them with the other pokemon. Janice was sitting on the bank and watching the krabby walk around under the water. The wild pokemon soon relaxed again and enjoyed the free feeding while we were there.

Half an hour later a beeping sound came from Janice's pocket as Janice's timer went off on her PokeGear.

We had planned that Janice would set a half hour timer so we could get all of the pokemon to relax and get the rare pokemon to the surface where they could be easily caught. When the timer stopped Cecilia would sing a song that she had been learning in school. At the end of the song we would applaud her and then all throw safari balls at what we wanted the most.

We all had a good idea of who wanted what and in what order. We had discussed it through the chat section of our PokeGear shortly after settling next to the pond. When the beeping stopped Cecilia started to sing a silly school tune with a slight educational streak through it.

'When you see a purple balloon, let it float by.

Let it float by, let it float by.

If you see a purple balloon, let it float by.

Purple balloons love all things sweet!

If you are little and have sweet cheeks, let it float by.

Let it float by, let it float by.

Never hold the hand of a purple balloon and let it float by.

Let it float by, let it float by.'

Cecilia sang the little tune for us all. It was a safety song for children about drifloon, but it had a catchy and cheeky tune that I had doubts that any child would listen to the warning in there.

When Cecilia finished she curtseyed and we all cheered and clapped for her. It wasn't just the people clapping for her, the pokemon with hands were also clapping. They must not get many people come here to sing them a song or offer any entertainment.

It was time for the surprise. While the pokemon were all looking and chattering among themselves happily after the clapping, we all got a safari ball out and threw it as fast as we could.

Cecilia and Mandy both went for two different psyduck. Janice threw a ball at a krabby. Mrs Williams threw two balls at once and a pair of poliwag that had been sitting next to each other. I threw a ball at one of the horsea. Triffid grabbed three magikarp from the water and quickly stuffed them into his open mouth before any other pokemon could notice.

There was a second of shocked silence among the wild pokemon that gave everyone a chance to throw more balls.

I threw a second ball at a magikarp before it could go under. Mandy threw her second ball quickly at the other psyduck. Cecilia threw a ball at a different magikarp to myself. Mrs Williams threw two more balls at another pair of poliwag that had been sitting right next to each other. Janice also did the two ball trick at the two shocked horsea. Triffid grabbed another two magikarp and a goldeen and stuffed them into his mouth before the panic could set in.

In a rush and lots of splashing the wild Pokemon all fled in unison and vanished into the depths of the spring and out of sight.

The only pokemon there that were not surprised were the slowpoke. They didn't seem to care. Neither did they flee in the chaos of every other pokemon diving into the water to hide in its depths.

There was a chorus of wobbling and clicking safari balls in the wake of the pokemon fleeing. Amazingly none of them broke out. Maybe because we had surprised all of them.

Mrs Williams smiled at her three goldeen at the surface of the water. 'Can you girls please be dears and get the safari balls that sunk to the bottom of the spring?' Mrs Williams asked them for us. 'Goldeen goldeen!' They answered her before diving down into the water.

Cecilia and I took our PokeGear out of our pockets, ready to scan the safari balls from the depths. Mandy picked up her two safari balls and held onto them with a smile. 'So, so cute!' She cooed to the safari balls with her two new psyduck.

Janice smirked a little and crawled over to the water's edge to wait for the goldeen.

One goldeen came to the surface with a safari ball suctioned on its lips. Janice took the safari ball and held it out to Cecilia to scan. 'A magikarp. Its a boy! I'm taking this one.' She said before skipping away to pick up her other safari ball with the last psyduck in it. She had only thrown one safari ball at a pokemon in the spring.

The second Goldeen came up to the surface as the other one dived back down. Janice took the ball from this one too. She handed me the next ball. I scanned it. 'Magikarp again. This one is mine.' I said with a grin. 'Is it a boy or a girl Aunty Milo?' Cecilia asked me with her big blue eyes, wide with curiosity. 'It's another boy.' I said with a laugh. 'It's a Mr Mr combo!' Cecilia giggled.

I couldn't help but laugh at her comment. Kids hey?

'We just need them to find the three horsea balls now.' Janice said while she waited for the Goldeen to come back up to the surface.

After about five minutes all three came up to the top holding a safari ball each. The safari balls must have sunk deep for them to have taken so long to find them.

I knelt down with a pained groan and took a safari ball from a goldeen before pocketing it. Janice took the other two. I couldn't help but smile. With what I had caught just here in the safari zone, I had the start of a good battling team, especially after everything evolved.

I went over to my pack while everyone else sorted out their current pokemon teams and did a reshuffle of who they had out and ready.

I scanned the two safari balls into my PokeGear and then registered both pokemon to myself. Once I had confirmation that their digital DNA was registered under my name, I dropped the horsea and magikarp into my backpack. I decided to keep Scout, Triffid, Glitz, my tauros and my chansey in my front line. The rest stayed in the back pack.

I considered bringing one of the aerodactyl into my front line but they were too… unpredictable. I couldn't trust them just yet. But I had a nagging feeling that I should keep at least one of them in my front line. I had a legal carrying capacity of ten now, so I could exploit it, but I felt like I should not carry everything in the front line right now though. I just had a strange feeling about the rest of the day.

I scanned the three balls that contained the aerodactyl. I instantly dropped the shiny aerodactyl into the back pack. I wasn't going to use him, he was too big, too old and a shiny. Far too eye-catching for my liking.

Then I compared the other two and opted for the one that I had actually fought in combat over the one that I had just luckily caught. The one that I had actually fought would have at least a tiny amount of respect for my authority since I kicked her ass. She would probably hate me too, but she would listen to me at least. (In theory any way)

I dropped the safari ball for the other aerodactyl into my bag and clicked my damaged aerodactyl's safari ball onto my belt.

'Milo are you ready to go?' Mrs Williams asked me. I must have started daydreaming again while I debated with myself. I looked over to her as I zipped my pack shut. I slipped my bag back onto my back carefully. 'Yeah, I just need to get Triffid out of his tree.' I answered.

To my surprise Triffid and Scout were hanging out together. 'Scout are you ready to lead us to the exit?' I asked him. Scout nodded and give his wings a flutter. I gave him a smile before looking at Triffid.

Triffid's body had expanded and was sagging under a lot of extra weight. He blinked slowly and contently. He had obviously gorged himself on fish and looked like he was hitting a food coma. 'Triffid we are going now. I'm going to return you while we travel ok?' I said to him. He blinked as slowly as Glitz had this morning and then surprised me by returning himself to his safari ball. He must have wanted to sleep in peace after his huge meal.

I turned around to find Mandy ride my tauros over to me. Cecilia was on Mr Grumpy's back and Mrs Williams was on Stan. Janice jumped up onto Brute to mount him and get comfortable on his back. They looked at me, waiting. I walked up to my unnamed tauros and petted the side of his neck. As I walked to his shoulder. Mandy shuffled back for me as I pulled myself up with a pained groan.

'Are you ok?' Janice asked as she got Brute to trot over to us. 'Y-yeah… ow… just very bruised after my beat down with the aerodactyl last night.' I replied to her. Janice frowned at me. 'Hank and Clyde are going to kill all of us when they find out about that.' Janice said before she sighed.

'Lets go get my wedding over with. I need a hot shower before I start to get ready and someone needs to make sure that Hank doesn't see me before the ceremony.' I said with a sigh. 'Lead the way Scout, we will follow. We have two hours to get to the exit before Alph is due to get us and we still need to report to the office about the unfortunate trainer's remains that we found.' Mrs Williams said to him.

'Moth!' Venomoth responded to her and started to fly to the exit.

We let the pokemon walk for now so they could warm up again. The rising sun was starting to heat up the air.

We wandered past a flock of doduo. Mandy decided that she didn't want one to ride for herself but Cecilia couldn't help herself and tried her luck throwing a safari ball at the largest male doduo of the flock.

The doduo vanished in a flash of red light as he was pulled into the safari ball. Before the safari ball could hit the ground, he broke out and ran away. The rest of the flock followed him at a speed that we just had no chance of catching. Cecilia pouted but said nothing about it, letting Mr Grumpy continue to walk after Scout's lead.

We were nearing the edge of the grasslands now and were getting close to an area of thinly placed trees. When we entered the area of spread out trees, we could see that the area had a grotto feeling to it. Between the trees were random patches of shrubbery and bushes.

We all seemed to be grateful for the shade that the trees provided. After a while of walking in the shade the three tauros and Mr Grumpy seemed to become more alert. I noticed that Scout was flying above the canopy now, but still in sight for us. Scout looked like he could see something but couldn't determine if it was a threat or not. His flight pattern had changed.

I reached for my little ball pouch and took out a safari ball. I activated the safari ball in anticipation for whatever might be ahead.

Janice looked like she also noticed Scout's odd behaviour. Janice got her pistol ready and a pokeball. Janice tucked the pistol into her pocket but kept her hand on it. Mrs WIlliams saw our reactions and also got ready. Mandy saw me take a ball out and she also got prepared.

Cecilia was too busy looking up at the sky and the tree canopy to notice what we had done. She smiled and waved at a group of wild weepinbell hanging in a tree.

Up ahead a campsite slowly came into view. We weren't the only ones who had stayed here the night. As we got closer we discovered that no one was there. At least it looked like no one was there. There was a very strange feeling in the air.

'Taur!' Stan bellowed nervously as we walked closer to the campsite. He didn't stop though for fear of getting into trouble with Mrs Williams.

The campsite had two small green canvas tents set up with a fireplace between them. There was a military grade short-wave radio set up on one of the tents and a shotgun leaning against the small table that it sat on. Who ever this belonged to, they had been here for a while. There were two garbage bags full of rubbish tied up next to one of the tents.

My observations on this strange and suspicious campsite were cut short when a disembodied voice spoke from somewhere in the camp. The voice surprised us all and all walking pokemon paused.

To be Continued...


	24. Chapter 24

Black Lightning Chapter 24

Continued…

My observations on this strange and suspicious campsite were cut short when a disembodied voice spoke from somewhere in the camp. The voice surprised us all and all walking pokemon paused.

BLIP! "Scanning identity! Mrs Iris Williams! Johto Champion. Kanto Champion. War Widow to Major Frederick Williams. Birth place, Kanto, Lavender Town. Dual Kanto-Johto citezinship. Registered owner of fourteen Pokemon. All Champion Registered Pokemon DECEASED." BLIP!

BLIP! "Scanning Identity! Champion Janice Williams. Registered Champion in over twenty regions. Birth place, Johto, Mahogany Town. Dual Kanto-Johto citizenship. Registered owner of one-hundred and ninety-seven Pokemon. Registered owner of thirty-seven Champion Pokemon. Registered Breeder for starter Pokemon for Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh and Hoenn!" BLIP!

BLIP! "Scanning Identity! Mrs Mandy Williams. Head Manager for PokeMart Corporation's Main Goldenrod Outlet. Spouse, Doctor Clyde Williams of Silph Co Research and Development sector. Birth place Johto, Mahogany Town. Johto Citizenship. Registered owner of nine Pokemon! No Champion status." BLIP!

BLIP! "Scanning Identity! Lass Cecilia Williams. Goldenrod Private Primary School Student. Age five years old. Birth place Johto, Goldenrod City. Johto citizenship. Registered owner of twelve Pokemon. No champion status." BLIP!

BLIP! "Scanning Identity! Doctor Milo Smith. Pewter Museum Archeologist. Discoverer of the new Stator-Zaptor Pokemon Species. Engaged to Doctor Hank Williams of Mahogany Town, Johto-Kanto Champion, Pewter Museum Geologist. Birth place CLASSIFIED! Citizenship CLASSIFIED! Can read unown hieroglyphs. Registered owner of fourteen Pokemon. No Championship status." BLIP!

'Shit! Run!' Janice spat the curse word. Before we could flee several clicks sounded around us. We were held at gunpoint by several men in camouflage as they stepped out of hiding. We had unknowingly walked into a trap.

The trab builders of this suspicious campsite wore the same baseball caps as the one that we had found yesterday under Triffid. The laces on their boots also matched the shoelace that still hung from the side of Triffid's mouth. 'Hands up!' One of them ordered. He had a thick accent that almost sounded french. He must have been a Kalos soldier. If the intel was true, both sides were playing dirty and we had just tripped face first into a puddle of metaphorical mud.

I looked across to the soldier who had spoken up with narrowed eyes. I still held the safari ball in my hand as I slowly lifted my hands up. I heard Mandy start to sniffle and cry as I felt her weight shift behind me, telling me that she had put her hands up too. Cecilia, Mrs Williams and Janice remained silent. Janice left her gun in her pocket when she raised her hands. She wasn't going to give away that she was armed yet.

I tried to focus on the feeling that I had yesterday during the aerodactyl fight when Scout had attacked, following my adrenaline driven thoughts. Our minds must have connected for a few short seconds in the aerodactyl attack. I tried to reach my mind out to Scout's. I couldn't see his shadow on the ground any more. He must have been hiding somewhere for now. I resisted the urge to look around for him.

'Don't move.' The soldier warned us. Now that I had had the chance to count the soldiers I could see that there were six of them here. The one giving orders stood back to watch as the others walked over to us.

One of the six soldiers came up to me and undid my pokemon ball belt. He pulled it off me and threw it away so that I couldn't release any of my pokemon. At least that is what he seemed to think that he was preventing me from doing.

The William's family members also had their ball belt's removed and thrown away. Mr Grumpy gave a snort and pawed at the ground with a grumble. He had grown attached to Cecilia and clearly didn't like to see her threatened. Cecilia remained silent, though I thought that I could see her lower lip tremble. She was on the verge of crying like her mother.

Mandy quietly cried behind me. She was back to being a mess again.

I gave a frustrated sigh as I looked the soldier that was incharge up and down. He pointed his gun at me while I looked at him. I didn't flinch, instead I locked eyes with him. 'Are you sure that is a good idea? The war hasn't started yet.' I asked him as I felt a smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth.

His eye twitched and he tensed up keeping the gun on me. 'You are right. We need to cover our tracks and make this look like a simple accident.' He said to me with a smirk. 'If you would be so kind as to dismount from your tauros. I will show you how I will deal with you so that the death is not traced to us.' He said to me as he held his hand out to one of the others and clicked his fingers. 'The biological weapon. Bring it here! This needs to look like a natural death to keep our records clear after the war ends.' He ordered one of the soldiers before giving a small explanation.

He was probably explaining as to why he wasn't just having us all shot. Although it was already pretty obvious to me that he wouldn't shoot us unless we really gave him issues. Shooting us all now would have been the faster and less complicated short-term option.

Maybe the Pokemon world had something like war laws that prevented certain behaviors. Killing civilians before the war was declared would certainly be one of these laws that could earn you a black mark on your name. In our world I'm pretty sure they are refered to as war crimes.

I didn't know if war crimes were a thing in the pokemon world, but he seemed to be taking certain precautions and making things more complicated than they should have been if he was just going to start killing everyone that he found. Maybe they did have something along the lines of war crimes and post war punishments. They had a sceret Pokemon organisation that ran all of the Pokemon leagues and they had laws about other things so it would make sense if they did have those things in place.

There was something else though. Some gut instinct told me that this guy had something to prove. Like he had small man syndrome or something. He seemed to have a personal grudge. Against whom or why, I didn't care.

I sighed heavily and lifted a leg over my tauros' neck and shoulder before sliding off his back side saddle. I landed on my feet on the hard ground with a small huff. I kept my hands in the air as I walked over to the soldier in charge. I stopped when he held his gun up near my brow.

My body was still very sore from yesterday but the adrenaline was starting to pump through me. I need to think of a plan. But what? What to do?

The other soldier brought over a safari ball and released a very angry victreebel. Cecilia began to laugh when she saw it. 'Silly Mr Soldier Sir! Aunty Milo isn't scared of victreebel!' Cecilia said.

I rolled my eyes and looked at Cecilia pointedly. 'Don't be silly Cecilia. Of course I'm afraid of the big bad victreebel. Sir permission to fight the victreebel to make the struggle look real before it kills me?' I said to Cecilia before looking to the soldier in charge. He only smirked at me, but still held his gun up at me. 'Of course. We like authenticity Doctor Smith. You may try to fight it in any way that you like.' He said.

I lowered my hands, taking that response as my permission to lower my hands. No one shot me for doing that, which was nice. I cracked my knuckles and rolled my neck before looking at the victreebel. 'Remember me from yesterday little flower?' I asked in a dark voice.

The victreebel was only freshly caught. Possibly caught yesterday not far from where I had caught Triffid or in the middle of the night. I could tell this much by how it looked at the soldiers like it didn't give a shit about them. It also had bullet wounds that had pierced its leaves, putting fresh looking holes in them.

The victreebel paused and looked at me closely. This one was much smaller than Triffid. (Triffid was huge for his species though.) Its eyes went wide and it let out all of its vines at once to flee up the closest tree. 'B-b-b-b-b-b-b-BEL!' It stuttered before shouting in fright. It sounded like it had cursed in its language. It climbed up as high as it could, almost out of eye sight. 'Get back here!' I yelled at it. 'VIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICTREEEEEEEEEBELLLLLLLLLLL!' It yelled back in a tone that was along the lines of "OH HELL NO!"

The Kalos soldiers must have caught this one after their squad mate died, shortly after the victreebel had fled from me, after I had caught Triffid. We must have only just missed them in the forest yesterday. The thought made me sigh. I was glad we didn't come across them in the forest, we really would have been screwed then.

I suddenly had all guns pointed at me. 'Soldier return the biological weapon!' The leader ordered. 'Sir the biological weapon is out of range to be returned.' The other soldier responded. 'Want me to get him down for you so he will eat me?' I asked as I looked up the tree, feeling completely relaxed, even with the guns on me. With the victreebel this scared of me and their leader in my possesion I now felt like I had a bit of an edge on them.

So much for their plans at having me eaten alive by and untrained, still mostly wild victreebel. I don't think they thought it through very well. The plan would have worked if I hadn't of beat up Triffid in front of all of the other victreebel yesterday.

'Humour me! How will you get him down?' The lead soldier asked in a frustrated sneer. I looked at him with a blank expression. 'I can show you. It will be better than telling you. Telling you will take too long and your biological weapon might flee to the next tree and escape if I take too long.' I said to him calmly.

He sneered at me and held his gun up at my face as he marched over to me so he could lean right up into my face. 'You better not be playing funny things with me.' He warned me. I sighed as I looked at him. 'Sir I am an archeologist, not a comedian. My profession is based on facts, NOT entertainment. Much like your profession is legally killing people in combat, not healing them in a nurses uniform.' I pointed out to him.

He spat at my feet before stepping back, still holding the gun up at me. His attempt to intimidate me had failed. I had a Triffid and wasn't bound by any laws of combat. I quirked my brow at him and folded my arms over my chest. Doing this sent a shot of pain through me but I did my best to hide it.

I looked over my shoulder to my fallen ball belt in the dirt. 'Triffid are you awake in there?' I asked the ball belt. I saw Triffid's ball shake. He must have digested his last hunt. 'Awesome, come out for a minute. I have a small job for you.' I called him.

I could sense the nervousness of the soldiers as I called out my pokemon while not being anywhere near the safari balls. Triffid came out of the ball in a flash of light. Once he materialised he looked around and seemed to smile darkly. He recognised the soldiers, and they recognised him. They all backed away to where they thought the MSD (Minimum Safe Distance) was with their guns up. They were all far more tense now.

'Triffid can you tell your subordinate to come down from the tree to fight me? These fine gentlemen have convinced me to let him eat me but he looks like he thinks that I taste bad.' I said to Triffid in a voice loud enough that the soldiers could hear. Janice, Mrs Williams and Cecilia did their best to hold in their laughter at my words.

Cecilia still had teary eyes like she was scared but she seemed to be calming down a little again, at least for now. Mandy was still quietly sobbing, but watching me.

Triffid gave me a strange look before he looked up at the tree. 'Victreebel! Vic vic bel vic vic tree. Bel tree victreebel.' Triffid called up to the other victreebel.

Up in the canopy of the trees came a rustling sound. The smaller victreebel slowly came down to a lower branch. I moved to stand beside Triffid while we watched the other victreebel.

'Triffid, I need your help. These soldiers are enemies of this country and a war is going to start in a few days. They want to kill all of us here before the war starts. I need you to take six safari balls from my pouch when I hug you and hide them under your leaves. You are going to use them on the soldiers when I yell the word Fridge. Tell your friend to fight me as a distraction while you get ready to throw. I want you to squeal when you are ready.' I whispered to him.

The other victreebel came down onto the ground as Triffid gave him his orders. The Kalos soldier's victreebel looked at Triffid horrified before looking at me. It looked like he agreed to the plan.

'Goodbye buddy. Hopefully I come back as a gastly and meet you again.' I said out loud with a sigh and a pout. I hugged him around his huge bloated body. I felt his vines and leaves wrap around me in return. I waited for him to let me go first before I stepped away from him. I turned around to face the other victreebel.

'Milo? Milo what are you doing? You are supposed to be getting married today not dying!' Mandy called out to me as sobs broke her voice. I looked at Mandy over my shoulder with a furrowed brow. 'We are outnumbered and outgunned. I am accepting my fate.' I said to her bluntly. Mandy burst into tears at my answer. 'No… we are meant to be sisters… this isn't fair…' Mandy cried.

I sighed heavily. Mandy didn't get it. This was ok though. If Mandy was freaking out and crying then I could continue with my masquarade. The plan could work.

Janice and Mrs Williams stayed silent while they watched me. They had known me long enough to know that I was up to something, but their faces held grim expressions.

I heard Cecilia give a nervous hiccup before she started to cry quietly too. 'Au-aunty M-Milo… N-No…' Cecilia sobbed quietly. 'Shut up!' One of the soldiers ordered both of them.

I turned back to the other victreebel and glared at it. 'Let's get this over with. FIGHT ME!' I snapped at it. It released its vines at me for a whip attack. I ran into the vines to punch it. It grabbed me in a wrap and started to squeeze.

I couldn't kick but I could stomp. I stomped down onto its tail leaf making it scream and let me go. I gasped loudly for air after being squeezed. My bruises were really hurting now and started to thump a little.

I spun on the spot and kicked it across the face, making it spin. It's vines lashed out at me again making me jump back. I was then hit by a sucker punch buy the same tail leaf that I had stepped on. The hit sent my onto my back into the dirt. I coughed as I was winded from the fall. The victreebel turned around and went to vine whip me again.

I rolled to the side along the ground to avoid most of the whips, grunting from the pain. I rolled up onto my hands and knees and held my side with a groan. The two hits I had taken from the aerodactyl wings really hurt. I got up to my feet before leaping at the victreebel with an angry yell. I was not fighting well today. The damage was hindering the strength behind my strikes.

I managed to spear tackle the victreebel into the tree it had climbed earlier with a thump making it spit poisonous acid on impact. I could hear a sizzling on my leather overcoat and quickly let go of the victreebel. I backed away and quickly shrugged out of my overcoat before it could get to my skin. I dropped the coat onto the ground and slipped my foot back in a ready stance. 'Come on!' I urged the victreebel to keep going. My voice was just a dry breathless cough when I spoke.

It gave me a strange look as it hesitated. It knew that I was injured. 'Tree!' Triffid squealed at the other victreebel. The victreebel grabbed me in a wrap and dragged me over to its body. It lifted me up over its mouth while I struggled to break free. I coughed and gasped while I was squeezed. 'Fridge!' I snapped with the last of my breath as I was squeezed more by the smaller victreebel.

The moment Triffid heard me say fridge he threw the balls at each of the soldiers, all at once.

All of the soldiers were pulled into the safari balls in a flash of red light.

The victreebel gently put me down again, on my back on the ground and let me go. I coughed and groaned in pain while I lay on the ground. I really pushed myself too hard this time around. Something definently felt wrong in there. My biggest concern right now was getting air into me again.

'Get ready to throw another safari ball just incase they manage to break out!' Mrs Williams snapped. She spoke more to the sobbing Mandy and Cecilia. Janice had her gun up and another ball ready.

All of the safari balls wobbled a few times and then clicked in unison. The soldiers may have possibly been specialists, but they were not pokemon. Breaking out of a ball would have been difficult for them without the raw power that a pokemon had.

I looked above myself to see Scout flutter over me. 'Moth?' he asked me in his singing voice, full of worry. Scout had a very melodic voice. 'I'm pretty sure I will survive this too Scout.' I said to him with a small smile. I forced myself to take slow deep breaths. The smaller victreebel retreated back up the tree and looked down at me.

'I'm calling the league. This needs to be reported. We need a crew here now to clean this up!' Janice snapped as I heard her take out her PokeGear, and start calling someone.

I closed my eyes and just listened. Mandy and Cecilia sounded like they had stopped crying now. They were still sniffling though. Mrs Williams walked over to me to stand next to where I was laying on the ground. 'Sore?' She asked. 'Yep!' Was my simple response.

'Hello? Oh! No I'm not prank calling again Will! Listen. We have a situation in the Safari Zone in Zone… umm… Shit! Milo what Zone are we in?' Janice asked me while she was in a call with Will. 'Zone two!' I answered her.

'What? Yeah ok. We have a pokemon here that can get you here quickly. Meet a venomoth at the front gate!' Janice said. 'Veno!' I heard Scout respond before his fluttering very quickly became distant. 'I don't know how fast he can fly. We haven't asked him to demonstrate that yet. No, Milo only just caught him yesterday, but he is an awesome tour guide… Ok. See you when you get here.' Mandy said to Will over the PokeGear before she hung up.

'No one touch anything, we want the site to remain as it is. This is a crime scene now.' Janice said to all of us. I lifted my fist with a smirk. 'Woot! I'm part of a crime scene! I'm just going to lie here and wait.' I said before yawning. The yawn made me clench my jaw afterwards. Breathing hurt a lot.

Mrs Williams snickered as I heard her sit next to me. 'Something new to add to your resume?' She asked me in an amused tone. I opened my eyes and looked at her. 'No actually, I've already been part of a crime scene. The only difference this time is that someone is actually investigating and someone will actually get in trouble. This time is much better.' I said to her calmly.

Mrs Williams looked over her shoulder to the others for a moment before she looked down at me. 'Do you mind if I take a look?' She asked, gesturing down my body. 'I kind of do mind. It depends on where you want to look.' I said to her. I was mindful that Will could arrive at any moment.

'You were guarding your belly and side before. Are you hurt there or something?' She asked me. 'I feel very very bruised there. I don't mind you looking at that. Other than the wrap attack that I just had to endure I took a few vine whips there yesterday and two sets of aerodactyl wings.' I said to her calmly. Her facial expression changed from concern to angry worry.

Mrs Williams unbuttoned my shirt and opened it up to look at my torso. She gritted her teeth and cringed at what she saw. 'Milo you can't get married and go on your honeymoon like this. You need to go to emergency and get checked. This is… very angry looking. You need to make sure you aren't bleeding internally.' Mrs Williams told me. She spoke in the mum tone that every born being is genetically wired to feel pressured by.

I gritted my teeth and then let out a sigh. 'Ok… for you I will consider delaying the wedding. I want to wait until Will gets here before I make that decision. Luckily Hank isn't being posted overseas. Unluckily Janice is and I would love for her to be there.' I said with a furrowed brow. 'Milo… I can view the wedding over a video call on the PokeGear. It's ok.' Janice said to me in a defeated tone from not far away.

'I'm calling Hank now before he gets too far with the preparations.' Mrs Williams said as she stood up and walked away from me. Cecilia came over and sat beside me. I smiled at her and held her hand. She had red rimmed eyes now.

'Aunty Milo can I still be your flower girl at the wedding when it happens latter?' Cecilia asked me in a quiet voice. I chuckled which made pain happen, which triggered coughing. 'Ow… Yes you can. I wouldn't ask anyone else to do it because I know you will be the best at it.' I said to her with a wink and a smile.

'Hank I know that Milo is tough but she can't do it like this!' I heard Mrs Williams hiss as she came over to me. She took a photo of me on the ground. 'Look at that Hank! You tell me that isn't a very good reason to delay the wedding!' Mrs Williams snapped at him. She must have sent him a photo of the bruises.

Suddenly Mrs WIlliams was handing me her PokeGear. 'You talk to him, you are going to be his wife!' She said to me with a huff. Hank must have been standing his ground against her. Interesting.

I looked at the screen of the PokeGear and saw the photo. The bruises were black and spread wide under the skin. The main bruise covered a huge patch from my hip to half way up my ribs on my right side. It was a dark purple in colour, almost black. No wonder it hurt so much!

I put the PokeGear to my ear. 'Hank.' I said to him expecting to be blasted. 'Milo! What happened? You look like you got hit by a bus!' Hank asked in a frantic and panicked tone. 'I got hit by enough things that it could almost amount to a bus. I think the biggest one was done by your wedding present.' I said to him in an even tone.

'My wedding present for the wedding that my mother is now insisting that we delay?' Hank asked me in a tone that hinted that he was about to explode into a rage. 'Yes. I would have been ok for the wedding but… we were ambushed by Kalos soldiers. I got some help from some of my new pokemon to distract them so they didn't feed all of us bullets. I could be dead right now, not just in a lot of pain. I want to wait for Will to get here before we make the decision to delay though.' I said to him bluntly. I was doing my best to keep calm.

'I'm getting Alph to take me there now! Where are you?' Hank said to me. 'Zone two. Will is on his way here too. He is meeting my new venomoth at the front gate to get him here. You better get there before my venomoth meets Will otherwise you will be left behind.' I said to him over the PokeGear.

'I'm already at the gate waiting. Oh wait, I see the Venomoth now!' Hank said to me. 'His name is Scout.' I said to Hank before the line went dead and I heard his voice standing over me. 'I know.' He said down to me as he hung up his PokeGear. Alph stood next to him.

That was very very fast. Alph must have looked straight into Scout's mind to see exactly where to go and teleport to.

I gave a dry chuckle as I looked up at Hank and then to Alph. 'Alph, I love how you are the best!' I said to him. 'Kazam!' Alph laughed. Hank rolled his eyes before he looked over my body. I was so glad I was wearing a bra. This was the most of my skin on my torso and upper body that Hank had ever seen. 'Ok the wedding is definitely delayed until you get patched up again.' Hank said with a snicker before he looked up and jumped on the spot in surprise.

'FUCK! That is a huge Victreebel!' Hank shouted in surprise as he backed away from me a step. He must have spotted Triffid. I could see from the corner of my eye that Triffid had started slowly coming over to me, probably to see the damage for himself.

'Hank meet Triffid my new victreebel. Triffid this is the man that I am getting married to. You are not to eat him.' I said to introduce both of them. 'What do you mean "You are not to eat him"? Is that a blood encrusted shoelace stuck on his mouth and blood splatters all over his fucking body?' Hank asked me quickly as he visibly tensed up. 'Yes… yes it is. He ate a Kalos soldier right before I found him… fought him and caught him.' I said the last part quickly.

'Woah! Wait a moment. You battled Triffid? Like actually engaged in combat yourself?' Hank asked as he looked down at me. 'Duh! I'm not allowed to use Pokemon to help catch safari pokemon. There is nothing in the rules that say anything about me not battling Pokemon myself to weaken them enough to get them in the damned ball and stay there! Triffid is a strong mon. I really had to get the boots into him to weaken him enough to get him to stay in the ball.' I said to Hank as I rolled my eyes.

Hank just looked at me. He stared really hard for a while before shaking his head. 'Ok. I love loopholes and I love you but you are insane! You know that right?' Hank asked me. 'Yes I know. It's a lack of flight response. Also, I kind of needed to get the King of the victreebel to respect me if I was going to catch him and keep him for myself. He is very useful to have around.' I said to Hank with a slight smile.

Hank face palmed and shook his head. He looked down at me again. 'Ok topic change. What did you get me as a wedding gift? Not a pocket full of helix and dome fossils I hope.' Hank said to me with a smirk. He must have seen my overcoat thrown on the ground with the fossils spilled out of it.

'No! I got you something MUCH better than that. Pass me my bag and I can show you.' I said to him with a snicker. Hank looked at me curiously before going away and coming back with my backpack.

While I was laying down I unzipped my bag and dug around in there until I found some of the used safari balls. I used my PokeGear to scan them and look for the correct ball. I grinned when I found the correct ball. I shut my PokeGear so that Hank couldn't sneak peek what it was. I held the correct ball up to him.

'Have a gander at that gorgeous specimen. I fought and caught him myself. Actually most of the huge bruise on me is just from him.' I said with a faint smirk and a dry chuckle. Hank took the ball from me before holding it out to the side. 'Come out!' He commanded.

In a flash of red light the huge, ancient, shiny aerodactyl formed. He looked around with a glare before looking at Hank and growling. 'Return!' Hank called him back into the ball before someone could lose a limb. Hank looked down at me shocked.

'That is an interesting looking aerodactyl. Interesting enough to make Lance lust over it like a horny school-girl.' I heard Will say from nearby. He must have only just teleported here. Scout was suddenly fluttering above me again. 'Moth?' he asked me. 'I'm ok Scout. I'm just laying here for now.' I said to reassure my new venomoth. Scout landed on Alph's head and perched there while he watched me.

Will came into my view. His face was serious and he looked like he hadn't slept properly or had any rest since I last saw him. Will slowly knelt down to me while he looked over my body. He clenched his jaws before looking up at my eyes.

'I'm sorry Milo but we are going to have to put you into your ball for a while to heal you. It isn't safe to move you with those wounds.' Will said to me as Alph stepped up beside him holding up my poke ball. 'That is fine Will. I trust Alph to not keep me trapped in the PC forever.' I said with a small smile.

I was covered in a tingling sensation as Alph got into my head and helped me stay calm. I accepted my place in the pokeball and waited in the timeless black void. I knew that the next time I was out of the ball again I would be better.

I don't know how much time passed but when I was called out of the Pokeball I didn't have any more pain.

I looked down at myself. My shirt was still unbuttoned and hanging open. My skin was back to normal. No more discolouring. I felt over my belly and pressed on it. Still no pain. I was better.

I was distracted by a sudden wolf whistle. I looked up to see Will and Hank smirking at me. 'Hank I am eternally jealous.' Will said as he held a fist out to Hank. Hank bumped his fist on Will's with a chuckle before covering his eyes. 'No more ogling my woman bro.' Hank said to him.

I rolled my eyes at both of them as I started to button up my shirt again. 'I'm pretty sure Will doesn't need to use his eyes to check me out. He is a psychic. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if he could use echolocation too.' I said with a sigh. Will burst out laughing as Hank lowered his hand from his friend's eyes.

I only then noticed that Alph was standing next to Hank. Alph levitated my overcoat, ball belt and bag to me. I shrugged my overcoat on first and put my hands in my pockets. 'Um, where did my fossils go?' I asked the pair of them. 'I put them in the drawstring bag that the safari balls were in. We signed you out of the Safari Zone too so you wont be getting charged again for another day. We also healed everyone that you caught.' Hank said to me calmly.

'For someone not from our world I must commend your abilities in catching such a wide range of pokemon in your first time in the Safari Zone. How did you even find the aerodactyl there anyway?' Will asked me. 'The same way that I understand the unown hieroglyphs. There are rumours in my world about your world that seem to not even be known in your world. I feel like I have been metagaming a little.' I said with a chuckle.

Hank started to laugh. 'You have been metagaming a lot while you have been here! When you said that you had a wedding present for me I was half expecting the crystal onix!' Hank said highly amused.

'Crystal onix?' Will asked now suddenly intrigued. 'One of the many rumours that my world know about. For some reason your world doesn't really know about that stuff, but oh well.' I said with a shrug. I took my ball belt from the air where it levitated and clipped it back around my hips. I grabbed my backpack and put it on again.

Will's PokeGear started to beep and he gave a heavy sigh looking very dissatisfied and annoyed by it. 'I hate to kick you out but I have another emergency to attend to and the evidence from the Safari Zone camp to go over with our agents before my appointment with Snooker. Then your wedding after that. I have a very full life right now. I don't even have time to accept challengers right now from trainers who are trying for a Champion title.' Will said with a frown.

'It's ok Will. We have a lot to do as well. We can see ourselves out.' Hank said to him as he held his fist out again to Will. Will smiled a little, still looking exhausted and drained as he bumped fists with Hank.

'See you all soon.' Will said before giving a wave.

Alph covered me in a warm feeling before we teleported. We were standing before the Williams' residence again.

'It feels like it has been so long since I was last here…' I said quietly. Hank only chuckled. 'I'm going to pretend that I haven't seen you today and go and get ready. Have fun being at Mandy's mercy.' Hank said with a laugh before he ran into the house.

I didn't get a chance to follow him. A shrill whistle caught my attention and a buzzing. 'Stator!' 'Yanma!' I was greeted by Nugget and Cheyenne. I knelt down to Nugget's height. Cheyenne landed on his head and I petted them both with a grin. 'I missed both of you too! So, so much!' I said before pulling them into a hug.

Cheyenne buzzed to get away, not used to this much physical contact while Nugget snuggled into me with a happy chirp. I let them go and stood up again before stepping back. 'I have some more friends for you to meet!' I said to them.

From the corner of my eye I could see a small crowd of venonat peeking around from behind Clyde's car. Perched on the edge of the porch were an assortment of pidgey and spearow. Crawling along the outside of the house's guttering were caterpie and weedle. Hank and Cecilia must have been successful in adopting a lot of new Pokemon while I was dress shopping. I hadn't seen or been introduced to any of them yet.

I took out my PokeGear while Nugget watched me patiently. Cheyenne hovered around me before perching herself on my head to watch my screen. I took the first ball off my belt and scanned the ball.

'This is Scout. Be nice to him. He might just save all of our lives one day.' I said before releasing Scout from his ball with a smile. 'Welcome home Scout, feel free to explore anywhere you like.' I said to Scout before I noticed movement out from the corner of my eye. 'Odd!' I greeted her with a smile. Scout watched us while he fluttered on the spot.

Odd must have left her egg in a safe place with someone that she trusted.

Odd bleated and galloped over to me. I hugged her around the neck when she came up to me. I let her go before clipping Scout's ball back onto my belt. 'Odd I have caught some unfriendly pokemon and I need you to teach them some manners when I let them out ok?' I asked her. 'Ok!' I heard her soft voice echo in my mind. Oh i missed that voice.

I scanned the next ball from my belt. Triffid. 'Ok, no one freak out or panic. This is Triffid.' I said more to my original three pokemon before l released him. There was an echo of screams from the new pokemon of Hanks as they all fled around to the back of the house, away from the giant blood spattered victreebel.

'Bel?' Triffid asked as he looked at me. 'Triffid this is the family. Everyone here is not for eating. Do not eat anyone here at this house ok?' I said to him sternly. 'Vic…' He responded before going over to the front porch. He looped himself onto a rafter beam on the front veranda and made himself comfortable next to the front door.

Triffid was so large that even when he was hanging tight up against the rafter on the porch there was only half an inch or so under him.

Nugget thought he was fascinating and followed him the whole way to the front porch. 'Stator?' Nugget asked as he nuzzled and sniffed at Triffid. I smirked a little at the sight before moving onto the next ball.

Glitz. I released her. She materialized and rolled onto her back with a snore. 'Slow!' she said in her sleep. 'This is Glitz… umm… she is very sweet when she is awake.' I said with a laugh before moving onto the next pokeball.

Odd just watched patiently. I scanned the next ball and smiled a little. 'I haven't named this one yet. He is a tauros with very good manners.' I said before releasing the tauros. He materialised and saw me standing. He rushed over and started to sniff at me before pushing his nose softly at my belly. 'I'm ok, I'm not hurt anymore.' I said to him calmly. 'Tauros!' He said in a voice full of relief.

He then noticed that he was somewhere new with new pokemon. 'This is the rest of the family. Get to know everyone, feel free to explore.' I said to him. He flicked his three tails and walked away, ignoring the others for the moment. It looked like he wanted to explore first.

Scout was still fluttering on the spot to watch us. He seemed to be staring at Odd. Maybe the two were talking to each other telepathically. Scout was bug and poison type but venomoth in general had some psychic abilities and traits.

I took out the next ball and scanned it. 'Chansey. I haven't named her yet either. I've never taken her out of her ball either. I caught her at dawn this morning so go easy on her.' I said to the others before letting her out of her ball.

'Chansey?' She looked around scared after she materialised. 'Girafarig!' Odd greeted her before her eyes started to glow. Odd must have been communicating to her telepathically. Chansey soon calmed down and smiled a little nervously. 'Chansey?' She asked as she looked up at me.

'I'm Milo, your trainer. Sorry about the scare this morning but I really needed to add you to my team. You are very important to me. This is your new home and new family. We all protect each other here and look after each other.' I said to her with an apologetic grin. She looked at me like she wasn't too impressed but then shrugged. She must have accepted that we were too far from the Safari Zone now for me to consider returning her back to the wild if she asked.

That was easy. Maybe too easy. I would have to keep an eye on her.

I moved onto the next pokeball. The aerodactyl that I hit on the chin with a pick axe. I sighed heavily and looked at Odd. 'The next one is a problem pokemon. Protect Cheyenne and beat them into line if you need to. This is the first of two aerodactyl. The next one will be more of a problem to deal with than this one.' I said to Odd.

Odd gave me a nod to let me know that she was ready. Chansey looked around for somewhere to hide. She opted to hide behind Odd.

I released the aerodactyl. The moment she materialized she took to the air with a loud roar. The roar made Nugget jump down onto the ground again and move to stand before me. He hissed a warning as the aerodactyl circled above us.

'I am Milo. I am your trainer now. I caught you and some of your friends. You are now part of this family. If you hurt any of us then you will have to answer to the rest of us! Do you understand? If you are good you are allowed to stay out of your pokeball. If you are bad and start hurting everyone then you will be beat up by the others and returned until I feel like letting you out again.' I said loudly up at her.

I felt her growl ripple the air before she swooped down and landed in front of me. She clapped her jaws threateningly. Nugget responded to her threat by hitting her with a spark attack. She jolted from the warning shock and looked at Nugget with a growl. Nugget hissed back at her before hitting her with a thunderwave.

The aerodactyl shuddered and twitched before falling flat on the ground, paralysed. She glared at Nugget, she wasn't resistant to electricity since she wasn't revived from a fossil. Nugget walked up to her and then onto her to perch himself onto her back. I could see the claws on his feet digging into her back as he hissed down at her, asserting his dominance already. This was interesting to watch.

I took my backpack from my back and opened it up before taking the next ball out.

Magikarp. 'Alright this one is a magikarp. I will introduce him later at the lake. He needs water. I haven't named him yet.' I said before setting the ball aside to then take out the next ball and scan it.

Chucky. I groaned a little. 'This one is Chucky. He is a tangela and he is very scared of everything. Everyone please be kind to him.' I said to them all with a sigh. The first aerodactyl gave a hiss in defiance before she was silenced by Nugget who stepped on her head with a warning chirp. 'Stat!' He warned her.

I let Chucky out. He materialised and looked around. He shivered where he stood, before he urinated on the ground. He gave a scream and ran away, straight to the tree line. 'Cheyenne please follow him and make sure he doesn't get lost.' I said to her while she was perched on my head. 'Yan!' She responded and flew after Chucky.

'Next ball.' I said with a sigh before I scanned it. The Horsea. 'This ball is a horsea. She also needs water so we will do her introduction later at the lake.' I said to the group.

The last ball.

'This last ball is the other aerodactyl…' I paused to look down at the one that was paralysed under Nugget. I didn't say anything, I just looked at Odd. 'Think you can shoot her down if she gets too rowdy? This one doesn't know that I caught her. The last thing that she probably remembers is taking a swoop at Janice before I got her with the safari ball.' I said to Odd.

Odd nodded and then I released her. She materialised, flying away from us at a swoop, screeching her same war cry that she was screeching before she was about to attack Janice. The screech abruptly stopped and she arched up into the air before circling and looking around in a confused fashion.

'I'm Milo! I'm your trainer now! I caught you and you now live under my rules on my territory. Come down here and say hello to your new family.' I called up to her. She growled and narrowed her eyes at me. She dived down to attack me but was hit by two psybeams. One from Odd and the other from Scout.

The psybeams made her wobble in the air and she crashed face first into the dirt next to me. She flopped onto the ground with a pained sound. I stood over her with a chuckle. 'Attacking your new family is against the rules. Learn the rules so you don't get punished. If you are good you are allowed to fly around freely like I never caught you. If you are bad and hurt everyone you are going to end up in your ball until I feel like letting you out again.' I warned her while I stood over her.

The second aerodactyl gave a snort and looked away before getting up to her feet and wing claws. She didn't try to attack, but kept her head low. She was a younger monster dinosaur than the first aerodactyl who was still challenging Nugget's authority.

I smiled before reaching out and patting her head. 'Explore our territory, learn your new family. Don't hurt any one. If you do I will know about it. You are all free to go and do whatever you want. I need to get ready for my wedding.' I said to them all.

I stepped around Nugget and the first aerodactyl and walked up to the front door. I paused to look at Triffid. He looked rather comfortable where he was. I smirked a little. 'King Triffid, you did good work today. I might take you with me on the honeymoon and you can go fishing again.' I said to him just to watch his reaction.

A spark showed in his eyes. 'Victreebel!' He responded excitedly as i heard Nugget hiss and chirp at the growling aerodactyl under him.

I trusted Odd to take care of everything. Odd wasn't my first Pokemon or my 'team leader' (that spot was reserved for Nugget) but she was the team matriarch. (Even though the first aerodactyl had "ANCIENT" in the "Age" section of the PokeGear reading) If anyone could get that aerodactyl to submit with a bit of mind rape, it was Odd.

I opened the flyscreen door and called out. 'Hank stay in the back half of the house! I'm getting ready now!' I called out to him. 'No! You are eating lunch first! No getting food on your dress!' Mrs Williams called out before stepping into the hallway from the kitchen.

I chuckled and stood straight before saluting her. 'Yes Ma'am!' I answered. She laughed and threw a spatula at me. I managed to catch it before it could hit me. 'Get in here and eat you little smart ass!' She scolded me playfully.

I laughed and entered the house. This was my last day of being Doctor Milo Smith. Before the end of the day I would become Doctor Milo Williams.

So many butterflies were having a riot party, in a night-club in my stomach. I wanted to explode with joy and throw up all at the same time!


	25. Chapter 25

Black Lightning Chapter 25

I ate lunch as quickly as I could. It was a bad idea. Right after I instantly got the hiccups. Mrs Williams and Mandy scurried me into Hank's bedroom to get ready while Hank got ready with Clyde in Clyde's room. They pushed me into the room and shut the door, scurrying away to some other part of the house.

I was not prepared for who was waiting for me in Hank's room. Nurse Mel was with Cecilia helping her get ready to be the flower girl. Cecilia was in a deep yellow dress, the same base colour as Nugget and Snuggles. She had her blue hair up in two little pigtails that had little sunflowers clipped up into her hair. She looked really pretty. For now she just had bare feet. On second thought maybe she wasn't going to wear shoes so she matched me. The thought made me smile.

Nurse Mel gave her trademark ear splitting scream when she saw me. That scream did something that stopped my hiccups. An unpleasant remedy but some part of me was grateful for that. Before I could react I was grabbed in a tight hug. 'MILO!' She greeted me excitedly. 'Wait! She has a hurt belly!' Cecilia said quickly as she came over to pull Mel off me.

I laughed and hugged Mel back before pulling Cecilia into the hug. 'Its ok Cecilia. I am all better now. Uncle Hank's friend Will gave me a secret medicine to fix me up good as new.' I said to her with a wink.

'Oh! My! Gosh! You got hurt AGAIN?' Nurse Mel asked me as the pitch in her voice rose more. Cue scolding from female friend. 'Would you stop getting hurt! Seriously! You don't need to be injured to be my friend!' She said to me as she let me go. I snorted before laughing and lifting my shirt to show Cecilia that the bruising was all gone.

Cecilia looked at my belly before looking up at me with a wide grin. 'All better!' I said to Cecilia before I looked at Mel with a smirk. 'So were you going to be a guest or did you bully Hank into saying yes to you being my bridesmaid when you found out that Belinda was the celebrant?' I asked her in a cheeky tone.

Nurse Mel scoffed. 'I don't know what you are talking about! I only reminded Hank that I was your first real friend in this world!' She said with an offended huff. I could only laugh at that. 'It sounds like you bullied him. I am glad that you did. So my wedding theme colour is Stator yellow?' I asked realising that a lot of choices had been made on my behalf.

I didn't seem to have a problem with this. The last few days had been too hectic and rushed for my liking. I could have easily spent a week in the Safari Zone and have been very happy there. I would have missed Odd, Cheyenne and Nugget but I had found an archeological news flash. For once I was happy to be around others who took control and got stuff done where I couldn't.

'I chose it because Stator are a very important discovery for you Aunty Milo. Do you like it? Uncle Hank told me that you needed some help with things. I thought the yellow would be special to you…' Cecilia asked me and explained herself sheepishly, she held her hands behind her back and twisted her toes of one foot into the floor. She looked up at me through her eyelashes with a hopeful expression and her eyes wide.

'I love it. Thank you. I have no sense of style and need all the help that I can get! You helped to make things a little easier for me.' I knelt down to her and gave her a hug. Cecilia gave a happy little squeak and hugged me back. 'Love you Aunty Milo.' She said while she hugged me. The words made me paused a moment before I smiled and hugged her more. 'Love you too Cecilia.' I returned to her.

The mood was broken by a loud sniff and a whimper before Mel's voice squeaked. 'That was so beautiful! I need a man with a niece who can tell me she loves me too! Oh it's too much! The wedding hasn't even started yet and I'm already crying. You are all just so beautiful!' Mel said with a breaking voice. I let go of Cecilia and looked at Mel over my shoulder. Mel was dabbing at her eyes with a tissue while she smiled at us.

I did my best to contain my laughed before Mandy burst into the room. "MILO! What are you DOING! Hair and make-up NOW! Arceus woman! You can't get married looking like that!' Mandy said as she stormed over to me and grabbed me. She went to pull me over to a chair before she caught wind of me and scrunched up her nose. 'No. I change my mind. Shower NOW! Go! Go! Go! Wait!' Mandy ordered me in a rush before she ran out the door again, shutting the door behind herself with a slam.

'Hank Get out of the bathroom! Milo needs it NOW! Its an emergency!' I heard Mandy yell at him through the door as I heard her feet thump up the hallway outside of the bedroom. Cecilia and Mel with silent to also listen to what was happening. I could only laugh nervously. 'What have I done?' I asked no one quietly. My stomach was doing back flips. When personal grooming was involved Mandy became an unstoppable monster.

'OW! Mandy! What is the emergency? My almost-wife is already hot without you drowning her in make-up and product!' I heard Hank retort before a slap sounded followed by another 'OW!' from Hank.

'I am not drowning her in make-up and product! She stinks and hasn't bathed in two days! Do you want a stinky bride?' Mandy retorted back at him. Hank must have not been giving up the bathroom.

'A stinky bride could have its perks. It means a shower together first thing on the honeymoon.' I heard Hank retort before a series of 'Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!' sounded down the hallway followed by more footsteps.

I could feel myself blushing from Hank's argument. I heard slightly lighter stomped footsteps. It must have been Mrs Williams. Following the footsteps were shuffled dragged steps that sounded a little bit like Hanks.

'... now Hank what have I told you about…' I could hear Mrs Williams scold him when she walked past the door possibly dragging Hank by his ear again. That would explain the chorus of 'Ow!' from Hank as he went past the door from the direction of the bathroom.

More thumping footsteps came back down the hallway. I moved to hide behind Mel. Maybe she would soften the Mandy blow. Compared to me, Mandy was a goddess of hotness and perfection. Unfortunately she has now made it her mission to bless me with her curse of stunning good looks. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever faced. Mel giggled and clapped like a school girl while I hid behind her.

Mandy burst back into the door. 'Milo the bathroom is yours now! Go and be clean.' Mandy said in a sweet voice with a happy smile that even made Cecilia shiver. Cecilia looked up at me with big eyes. 'You better go quick. Mama smiles like that when she is angry. She is scary when she is angry.' Cecilia warned me before she also moved to stand behind Mel.

That was one other thing that I had forgotten about Mandy. She wasn't just some loved up goddess of perfect hotness… she was also a mother and she knew how to wield those Ma powers like a pro.

A few hours later of Mandy being the single most frightening thing in my entire life and Mel and I were ready for the next most frightening thing of my entire life. There was no time for a rehearsal, I was relying on Alph to guide me through the ceremony.

I was super glad that it was a very small wedding. Family, Elite Four Will, Lee, the Pewter Museum Chairman, my bridesmaid (Nurse Mel) and my celebrant (Belinda.) The wedding did feel a lot bigger, mostly because of the Pokemon population but I was ok with excess Pokemon and not so many people.

The thing that really made me nervous was Hank. I had no idea of what vows my stupid nervous mouth was going to sprew out. However I did get the satisfaction of shocking Hank with this dress. I had never seen him blush so hard before, or look so surprised. I failed in the nose bleed department though. Dang it!

The full length, silken, flowy, halter neck dress topped with the hooded cloak must have been something that he wasn't expecting. I had no regrets regarding the barefoot thing. (The soil around the lake was soft and springy and full of moss. I felt like I was walking on a bed.) No high heel blisters for me at the end of the day. No sir. No heels for this lady; just high grade steel caps and hiking boots for these feet, and maybe the occasional pair of flip flops. Today was my day and I wanted happy naked feet. (Happy naked feet was something that most brides chose to not do, which kind of confused me. A lot!)

'Back in the moment Milo. Pay attention.' Alph's voice warned me back to reality. That's right. I am standing at the altar, facing Hank while he holds both of my hands. He is wearing an amused smirk while he watches me. He got over his shock and must have noticed that I wasn't paying attention anymore to the long speech that Belinda had put together about marriage and love and romance and blah, blah, blah.

I could feel my cheeks had started to burn before I glanced at Belinda, having heard my name but not heard the context. Belinda gave me an amused smirk as she continued her speech. I gave a faint sigh. Good. Not up to the vows yet.

Back to the serious business of not paying attention.

'Luckily for you Hank has to go first so you can copy some of what he says while throwing your own spin in there.' Alph echoed to me in my head. I smiled a little 'Thank you Alph. I think I would be running away from my own wedding as a nervous wreck if I didn't have you here grounding me.' I thought back to him before Hank blew playfully in my face to get my attention again.

'Milo are you daydreaming again at your own wedding?' He asked me in front of everyone. I felt my cheeks burn more. 'No!' I retorted before Hank laughed along with almost everyone else. That's right, reality dictated that I was actually at my wedding. Scary.

'That doesn't matter, because even if you are, I vow to love you and keep you forever. In sickness and in health, in good times and bad times. For richer or for poorer. I vow to keep being your best freind and doing my best to disagree with all the stupid little things, while loving every fault that you don't really have.' He said with a cheeky smile and a shrug before looking at everyone else.

'No one is perfect but… Milo You are perfect for me. Violent angry outburst, your insecurities, lack of social etiquette and extremely politically incorrect attitude to others, treating everyone like a jerk equally. You are all of those things and more. You are smart, brave, gentle and have stood by my side for so long I don't know how I didn't see before how much I actually love you. I'm going to stop before I get too romantic and you decide to call this whole wedding off because I know you hate romance. Milo I vow to be the best husband to you that I could ever be. Just like I know that you will be my wife through thick and thin. Even if we disagree on a lot of stupid things, like which out of smooth or crunchy peanutbutter is the best.' Hank said to me with a softer smile this time. I felt him give my hands a soft squeeze.

I took a deep breath and chuckled nervously. I felt slightly calmer. Only slightly. One hurdle was out of the way. 'Thank you Hank. Milo, it is now your turn to say your vows.' Belinda said as she looked at Hank and then to myself.

I took a deep breath and slowly let it out before speaking. I looked up at Hank, the only thing I could hear was my own heart beat thumping away, almost roaring too loudly.

'Doctor Hank Williams. What can I possibly say that you haven't already said?' I asked with a nervous chuckle. Hank snickered as a few others laughed a little.

'Hank, I vow to love you to the best of my abilities, even if you sometimes insist that I am a little insane… okay, maybe a lot insane. I vow to stand by you in sickness and in health, like I always have. I vow to stay by your side for richer or for poorer, for some reason we are always poor. I will be there in our best times and our worst times, still like I always have. I feel like I have been playing the part of your wife for years if I am completely honest. Any way…' I said with a nervous laugh. Hank only smirked. 'No arguments here!' He confirmed before going silent to let me finish.

'I vow to keep being your best friend and protecting you from all of your bullies and supporting all of your big decisions in your life.' I said as I paused a moment, trying to think. 'Milo you already do all of that, its awesome.' Hank said with a laugh. I heard Will snicker from his seat and Nurse Mel give a giggle.

'Shush! I'm trying to vow the rest of my life to you as your wife. This kind of thing is like my only weakness. Other than crunchy peanut butter. Which is the best by the way, especially straight out of the jar with a spoon.' I said with a cheeky smile. I could hear Will chuckle more from his seat. Hank smirked and rolled his eyes. 'Go on, I know you always have a lot to say.' Hank encouraged me. I heard Belinda snicker. There was a hushed sound of quiet laughter from everyone watching.

I smiled sadly a moment as I looked down. 'Hank Williams… for a long time you were my only friend, my best friend. We shared a lot of common intrests, did a lot of stupid things and for the longest time I had you in the friendzone. I didn't even realize that I had put you into the friendzone. I vow to take you out of the friendzone now and be something more. Not just your best friend. I vow to be your wife and everything that entails to the best of my abilities, including taking your name and forcing you to share it with me. I probably won't be very good at the wife role and we will probably fight as much as normal, but like always, I vow to never leave your side and always be there. I pledge to you my loyalty, my trust and my love… even when I do spot some eye candy else where every now and again, and I develop a little bit of a crush on someone. I am yours first and foremost no matter what.' I said to him.

While I spoke my confidence rose and I lifted my head and looked into Hank's eyes. He watched my eyes with that same seriousness that he had on his face when he proposed to me. He was taking everything to heart. There was no more joking, he had his game face on. I could feel my cheeks begin to burn a little under his gaze. I forgot everyone else was around us for a short moment.

Hank gave my hands a squeeze. After the squeeze I felt a cool band of metal slip up my ring finger. I broke eye contact with Hank to look down at my hand.

He had crafted a silver and gold twisted band with a small circular gem in the middle that glittered bright blue and purple with flecks of silver and black. It was an opal. Hank had cut it smooth with enough of an edge that it gave small glints of light through its sparkling colours. Colours that always seemed to shift and swirl. On closer inspection it looked like he had cut the opal into a dodecahedron and then mounted it into the ring.

What a nerd! A twenty sided die! He had actually cut the opal into a tiny twenty sided die and engraved a tiny little "20" on the top. I felt like more of a nerd for even noticing but he had actually gone and done it. I admired the craftsmanship, he had gone to a lot of trouble and done really well. I still found it comical though.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing. 'You are such a dork!' I said out loud suddenly. I had not been paying attention again. 'You may now kiss the bride!' Belinda said. I instantly regretted not paying attention again. Hank smirked and chuckled.

'Oh yeah? But I'm your dork Milo Williams.' Hank said before he kissed me. It was our first kiss. My first ever kiss. I had forgotten about this hallmark part of the wedding that every chick flick revolves around. (At least every chick flick with a wedding scene.)

At first I didn't know what to do! I was stunned stiff. 'He is your husband now, relax and kiss him back Milo. He isn't hurting you.' Alph echoed into my mind. Right. I wasn't being attacked. This wasn't like the sexual abuse I had gotten as a foster child. I trusted and loved Hank and honestly he was hot.

Hank started to pull away from the kiss, his touch almost sad before I threw my arms around him and tried to kiss him back. A cheer erupted from around us and I quickly pulled away breaking the kiss with a blush. Hank laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist.

'That was terrible! You need practice.' Hank said in a cheeky tone before kissing me again. This time I was slightly more prepared. I leant up into him to kiss him back, bringing another cheer around us.

This time Hank pulled away first with a sly smile. 'Uh oh… I know that smile. What have I gotten myself into?' I asked him with a laugh. Hank didn't answer, he smiled and scooped me up into his arms bridal style before turning to address everyone.

'Now that the formal crap is over, everyone feel free to make your way back to the house for refreshments while the last of the paperwork is signed.' Hank said to everyone. I wriggled a little trying to hint to him to put me down. 'Nope!' he said to me, reading my signal. He gave his signature popping sound on the "p" of the "nope".

I looked up at him with a scowl. He returned my scowl with a smirk. 'My wife! I get to hold you for as long as I want.' He said proudly. I gave a defeated sigh. 'Fine! But only because this marks the beginning of me forgetting our anniversary every single year.' I grumbled to him. Belinda laughed. 'What?' She asked looking at me before Hank piped up.

'I remind her every year that it is her birthday.' Hank snickered. Belinda looked at me curiously. 'That is interesting.' She said with a smirk. I face palmed, still stuck in Hank's arms.

Belinda only smirked and turned her clip board to face us. Nurse Mel and Clyde came over to us to sign the certificate as our witnesses. We took a few minutes to sign the papers and the certificate.

Thankfully I was allowed to walk on my own feet on the way back to the house. Hank and I started walking back to the house after everyone else was out of sight.

Our Pokemon went with us while we walked. Hank refused to let go of my hand while we walked. It was just Hank and I… and all of our Pokemon either trailing ahead of us or lagging behind us. A few of them were arguing among themselves, trying to sort out their social status among themselves.

'So, you survived that part of the circus. Soon you have to face the boss level that is The Chairman.' Hank said to me with a smile. I gave a shudder. 'Not looking forward to it. Hopefully the hunky and mysterious Will can rescue us from that disaster.' I said with a frown. 'Hunky and mysterious Will? Should I be worried that you are going to cheat on me already?' Hank asked me as he looked at me with a slightly worried frown.

I sighed and shook my head. 'No. I have a crush on Will but I promised you all of my loyalty remember? Also… Isn't my brutal honesty one of the key things that attracted you to me in the first place? I'm not going to hide the fact that I can find other men attractive. I KNOW that you check out other women AND find them attractive!' I said to Hank with an unamused expression.

'Ok, ok. You have a fair point and I appreciate that you told me that. Now that I know who my rivals are. Though I doubt that Will would chase you seriously unless I died OR if… something worse happened.' Hank said calmly. I looked at Hank curiously. 'What do you mean?' I asked him.

Hank looked at me and rolled his eyes. 'Will is into you. If I wasn't on the scene he would have snapped you up. Most of the people who Will has to deal with have something to prove or they are just… power hungry thugs. Will also wouldn't chase you seriously because of me, at least I hope he wouldn't. Thay betrayal would hurt.' Hank said with a sigh as he held my hand, playing with my ring on my finger between his fingers.

'Hank how do you know Will so well?' I asked him. Hank smiled a little. 'It's a bit of a story.' Hank said to me. 'It's a bit of a walk back to the house.' I retorted. Hank only chuckled.

'Yes it is. Ok so before I caught Butane, while my dad was still away at war, they were running out of soldiers. The Law for the legal age of owning a Pokemon was lowered so that Kanto and Johto could defend themselves more effectively from the Kalos specialist soldiers that were stationed here in the forests and caves. The legal age was eighteen before it was lowered to ten. When that happened I was only a few weeks away from turning Ten. Dad got permission to come back to help all of us catch our first Pokemon on a holiday… The Johto militia only allowed him to return because there were three of us kids. That was three more soldiers on the home front that they desperately needed.' Hank paused a moment, possibly thinking of a way to explain how to actually answer my question.

'After that holiday Dad was recalled to the war. I didn't see him again after that. After Dad went back to war Clyde, Janice and I went on our Pokemon journey. We defeated all of the Johto gyms and then challenged the council representatives to claim champion status. Back then the gym leaders were the sworn guardians of those towns and cities and they were more brutal than they are now. The system back then was much different than it is now. Champions were basically the most elite of the soldiers serving their region. Clyde, Janice and I were training to join the overseas faction to help end the war and get Dad back.' Hank said in a grim tone. I remained silent to let him finish telling the story and answer my question.

'Will was going through court trials with the Pokemon council of the regions for some trouble he got himself into. The Council of the Regions is kind of like our version of the United Nations except you don't want to screw with them. We all cleared the council trials as champions and then went to beat all of the gyms in Kanto. Will decided to join us on our journey through Kanto while the Council decided on what they were going to do with him and some of the other current Elite four members. We all collected our eight Kanto badges and then challenged the Council representatives again for the double champion status. The Council of Regions decided to employ Will and some other powerful trainers who had been in organised crime to keep them under control. They built the Elite Four to put them in place as their representatives to get champions.' Hank said with a snort and a smirk before he continued on.

'Will was a terrible influence and we got up to a lot of stupid things. but I looked up to him as much as I looked up to Clyde. I became close friends with him like I had been with Lee. Lee was jealous of Will. Will didn't give a shit about Lee. Will didn't have to prove anything. The council made Will their youngest member of elite four. Just so that they could keep an eye on him and the other gang members that Will used to run with. Will knew that Lee would never amount to that kind of military status, which is why he never bothered with him. Lee might be a spiteful little bitch but he hasn't got the coordination or strategic mind to be any real threat to any one, even with stronger pokemon.' Hank explained while we walked.

I listened to his story, considering what he was telling me. The champion status that they all gained at such a young age made sense now. If they all traveled together as a group then they could frequently battle each other for experience and sharpen their skills. They would have also been harder to pick off and kill if any enemy soldiers set up an ambush.

The ridiculously low age for children starting a Pokemon journey unsupervised also made sense now. If there was a war and the population was dropping by the day because of all the killings then desperate times called for desperate measures.

'So you trust Will like a brother in arms?' I asked as I looked at Hank. Hank paused a moment, stopping on the spot before he looked at me. 'I guess I do because Will IS my brother in arms. Lee didn't come with us on that trip to Champion status. Lee didn't get blood on his hands fighting for his life in night long stakeouts. Lee was a rich kid and his dad ran the most lucrative and powerful hub of knowledge of its time. He wasn't permitted to come with us. Lee was my friend but he never proved himself like Will did. Will and I survived many attacks from Kalos soldiers on our local routes. Kind of like how you survived it today, but not with your style.' Hank said in a thoughtful tone.

'What do you mean not in my style?' I asked. Hank smirked a little before he looked at me. 'The soldiers that sprung you at that campsite in the Safari Zone had cameras set up everywhere. After we called you into your poke ball we checked over the footage and documented everything that we found before the Council agents showed up. Will then took us to the Elite Four building to heal you and discuss things.' Hank explained to me. I could feel a grimace spreading across my lips.

'So Will watched me sass Kalos soldiers AND take on a small victreebel?' I asked. Hank laughed. 'Yeah. It woke up his trouser snake watching that. He was impressed that you faced the Pokemon rather than having your pokemon face other pokemon. Especially with such serious injuries. He was also impressed by your idea to capture the soldiers using your safari balls.' Hank said with a laugh. I shrugged. 'Will was the inspiration behind that.' I said with a chuckle. 'I think he knows that.' Hank said with a smirk.

Hank was watching me with a cheeky gleam in his eyes. 'What?' I asked him. 'Maybe we should become swingers just so I can watch you and Will indulge in some fun. It might be really hot to watch.' Hank said with a cheeky smirk. 'HANK!' I snapped at him feeling myself blush. I was completely shocked by that suggestion.

Hank laughed as he looked at my surprised face. 'This is interesting. You aren't saying no.' Hank said with a smirk as he gave my hand a small tug to keep walking with him. 'I… you… What! What if Will doesn't want to?' I asked Hank suddenly finding some kind of words. They were not the words I was after though. Hank gave an amused snort as he looked at me while we walked.

'Will is very open minded and despite his fun loving side, he hardly gets any fun.' Hank said calmly. 'What have I gotten myself into?' I asked with a groan. 'Maybe the man you thought had no libido was saving it all up just for you?' Hank asked me with a calm smile. He was being perfectly serious. That calm smile was the most dangerous smile he had.

'That isn't funny!' I said to him with a frown and a slight huff. 'No its not funny. I plan on making you a sweating puddle of mindless bliss by the time I am done with you. It is something that I am going to do with every bit of seriousness that I have. I want to be the first and only man to ever blow your mind.' Hanks aid to me bluntly.

'That isn't helping the butterflies in the riot night club in my stomach right now.' I said to him in an unimpressed tone. 'Ugh! You aren't the only one. I am putting a lot of pressure on myself to make sure that you will be completely satisfied for our short honeymoon. Alph is going to be taking us to a very remote cove to camp on a beach where no one will be.' Hank admitted to me quietly.

'Wait… you are nervous about me?' I asked looking at him suddenly curious. Hank gave me a pointed look mixed with a "well Duh!" face.

'Milo… I'm taking your virginity. Sure I've slept around, you know that I have but… This is a different deal. You are my first wife and hopefully only wife. YOU are my main focus of making sure that everything is ok. I know how freaked out you get when strangers flirt with you, and I know how stressed out you get at the thought of any kind of romance. I HAVE noticed that romantic movies are the things that scare you. Much, MUCH more than any twisted mind fuck horror movie. Hell the amount of times you have woken me up in the middle of the night because you had a bad dream about having a makeout session with some strange pervert is a phenomenal amount. You would tell me about other dreams that you would have that I would consider really fucking scary and you just shrug them off and smile like they are just fine. Like its cool to stroll through the horrors of your mind and laugh at them!' Hank said to me in a serious tone.

He had a very valid point. I was very damaged goods. It was amazing that I had even gotten this far with Hank. I had completely forgotten that physical intimacy was part of the whole marriage thing. I was kicking myself for it now, but I knew that Hank wouldn't hurt me.

He had never done anything to really hurt me. There were times that we had bad arguments but we always talked things over after it. Hank had never struck me and physically hurt me. His touch was usually careful and gentle, unless he was pulling me out of the way of something that could hurt me.

I frowned and looked down at the ground while we walked. 'I'm not going to say no or push you away Hank. Sure I'm going to be freaking out. I don't even like how I look naked in the mirror, the thought of you even remotely enjoying THAT sight or seeing that sight is beyond me enjoying it right this second. Even if you DO look at me like you have just found a ruby the side of your head.' I confessed to him. 'You didn't even consider this part of the marriage deal huh?' Hank asked in an almost amused tone.

I grimaced and looked at him. 'Nope. Hopefully you don't turn me into some kind of horny sex addict. I would hate to lose my smart wit because I'm too horny and lust driven to think straight.' I said to him. Hank laughed. 'That was my exact goal. At least for some of the time. Milo I want to be as close to you as possible just to show you how much you mean to me.' He said with a smile.

He continued speaking before i could respond. 'Besides, I've already done it before and I can tell you, you have kept my mind clouded in a horny veil so many times I'm amazed that you didn't notice and beat me to death with the nearest object that you could reach.' Hank said with a nervous chuckle.

I stopped walking and looked at him puzzled. 'You got horny over me? I thought you were trying to get over your bitchy ex!' I said with a frown. 'I was fantasising that you would do the things my bitchy ex girlfriend would do in the bedroom. I'm over her, OBVIOUSLY! But my body still remembers what that physical intimacy is like and I am starved of it. I hate to be cheesy Milo but you are my oasis in the desert of unsatisfying and unloving bitches who jump on any dick for a one night stand.' Hank said as he stopped to look at me.

'That is a harsh thing to say about the single women around here, especially since Janice is in that category.' I said as I looked at him. Hank grimaced then. 'Janice is… Janice. I think she has a lover or ten in every town that the others don't know about. I only know this because I sprung her the other night with her Mahogany Town lover.' Hank said with a blush as he ran a hand over his hair nervously.

I narrowed my eyes at him a little. 'Sprung her?' I asked Hank. Hank gave a nervous laugh. 'Yeah… She was getting busy with the girl that was my first kiss and one of the other guys that we grew up with.' Hank said before slowly smirking at my curiosity. 'They were on the bank of the Lake of Rage. I was out riding Butane because I couldn't sleep. They were so busy among themselves that they didn't notice me see them and leave on Butane.' Hank said with a laugh.

I could feel myself blushing more. I didn't consider that Janice would swing both ways so openly or be so active that she would get caught. 'Hank what makes you say that she probably has lovers in every region?' I asked him.

'If I tell you then you have to skinny dip with me tonight.' Hank said with a smirk. I glared at him. 'I would have done that anyway if you had of asked. I would have been awkward as a penguin trying to do hurdles but I would have done it.' I said to him with gritted teeth.

Hank smirked. 'I need to hear you say you will do it or I'm not telling you how I would even know something like that.' He said to me blunlty before starting to walk again and gently tugging me along with him.

I sighed heavily. My curiosity was eating me up inside. 'Ok fine. I will skinny dip with you tonight.' I said to him.

Hank grinned widely before chuckling at my frown. 'Ok! ok! I will tell you. When we were younger Janice used to have the girls around for sleepovers. I was woken up one night by a funny sound coming from Janice's room on one of these nights. I went outside to peek into her window because I knew that she never closed her curtains. Janice, Mandy and the other girls were all getting it on in her room. Every single sleepover that Janice had after that, she and the girls would have a spin the bottle game together that always ended with every taking everything off. Janice is almost eight years older than us, by the way!' Hank said to me with a guilty smirk.

I pulled my hand out of his and punched him hard in the arm. 'Pervert!' I snapped at him, still blushing. Hank blushed and held up his hands backing away from me. 'I was like ten! It was after we saw our dad for the last time. Also Milo, I was a kid. What kid isn't curious about that stuff?' Hank said in an attempt to protect himself from me.

I drew in a sharp breath before sighing heavily. I let the rage slip away. I went through a curious phase too before my foster family tried to set me up as their little brothel bitch. I shook my head still blushing. 'Sorry. I'm just shocked. Does Clyde know?' I asked looking at Hank.

Hank cleared his throat to keep from laughing before he nodded. 'Yeah he knows. He lets Mandy hook up with Janice occasionally on the condition that they film it so he can watch Mandy have her fun. He doesn't consider it cheating if she shows him everything that she did without him. Technically Janice and Mandy were a thing before Mandy and Clyde got together. Janice and Mandy never broke up either they just… I guess decided to go for the option where one of them could naturally have kids. The closest thing that they had to having kids together was Mandy getting with Clyde. Luckily for Clyde Mandy loves him as much as she loves Janice.' Hank said to me.

I looked at Hank wide eyed a moment. Hank read my expression and shook his head before stepping forward and hugging me. 'Its ok. I've told Janice that you are off limits. She isn't going to try and get you hot and heavy with her like some kind of sneaky Hypno.' Hank comforted me.

I hugged him back as I did my best to breathe. Some part of me was secretly happy that Janice was being posted overseas now. I felt like I had to keep an eye on her just incase she started to flirt with me. I don't like flirting. I don't like flirting so much that it puts my into my dark place. A dark place that is difficult for me to return from.

Slowly Hank let me go when he felt me calm down again. He softly kissed my brow and looked at me. 'Its ok. I won't let her near you. I'm going to be greedy and keep you all to myself.' He said to me quietly.

I gave a snort before laughing a little. 'I can believe that. Shall we go and get the rest of the wedding over with so we can leave? I would love to just get away from all of the people.' I said with an uncertain smile.

Hank gave a cheeky grin before stealing a kiss and running away. 'Only if you think you can keep up!' He yelled over his shoulder. I shook my shock away and frowned. 'Hey! Get back here!' I yelled at him as I chased him back to the house. So thankful that I wasn't wearing heels.


	26. Chapter 26

Black Lightning Chapter 26

I ran after Hank for the rest of the way back to the house. When we got there we were greeted by Mandy. She took one look at me and her facial expression changed. She looked absolutely furious.

'MILO! I spend all that time doing your hair and you go and RUN! You ruined your hair!' She stormed over to Hank and I while we stood panting and grinning. 'It… was… his… idea!' I said as I pointed at Hank and tried to catch my breath. 'HANK!' Mandy snapped. Her steps were directed more to him than me now.

Hank gave a laugh before running away. 'Butane! Help!' He called out while laughing. Butane ran up next to Hank while Hank ran. Hank mounted quickly mid stride, before riding Butane away at full gallop.

'Mr Grumpy!' Mandy called out to the rhyhorn. She was eager to show Hank how angry she was with him. Mr Grumpy ran up to Mandy, skidding to a stop. Mandy quickly climbed on before commanding that the rhyhorn go running after Butane.

I laughed at the scene while I tried to get my breath back.

It was then that the Chairman chose to approach me with Lee following beside him. Trailing behind Lee was Pooch who had already started to growl at me.

Nugget ran to stand in front of me defensively when he saw that Pooch was growling at me. Seeing Nugget so quick to defend me made me a little bit happy. I was still angry that Lee had dared to bring Pooch to my special day.

The Chairman paused mid stride to stop and look at Nugget standing before me. 'How did you get him to do that without commanding him?' He asked me curiously while he watched Nugget. I could see the dollar signs in his eyes and the cogs turning in his head. He looked like he wanted the Stator for more than just plain profit. He was up to something. I knew it.

I also had a nagging feeling that he couldn't control his Zaptor and that the pack of Stator were rebelling. His expression also seemed genuinely shocked by Nugget's actions to protect me.

'Stator are pack creatures. I trained him that I was in charge. Nugget sees me as his leader, protector and provider. In return he protects me and fights for me.' I said in a calm voice as I crossed my arms over my chest.

I chose that second to look pointedly at Lee with a frown. 'Why is Pooch at my wedding Lee?' I asked him in a blunt tone. Pooch growled more. Nugget hissed at Pooch. Odd came and stood beside Nugget as Cheyenne hovered over, flanked by Scout. My unnamed Tauros also joined the offensive line along with Glitz. Triffid moved silently around behind Lee and Pooch. Chansey was watching not far away with Chucky.

The three aerodactyl were perched on the roof of the house watching. The aerodactyl didn't seem interested in helping in the fight. They seemed to just want to watch the blood shed.

I noticed that the shiny male aerodactyl and the female that I had clobbered on the chin with the pickaxe, were very close to each other where they were perched on the roof. Maybe they were mates. It would make sense as to why the shiny male attacked me directly straight from the cave, especially if I had fought his mate and then caught her while he watched the flock attack us. I would have to observe them more to get a better idea about their relationship before jumping to conclusions though.

With a shrill squeal Snuggles ran up to stand beside Nugget and hiss loudly at Pooch.

Lee didn't answer my question. He returned Pooch and looked at my Pokemon with a nervous twitch in his eyes. This didn't satisfy Nugget and Snuggles, they hissed at Lee when they saw that he was Pooch's master. Nugget and Snuggles must have been able to sense my strong dislike for Lee.

'Lee why don't you go get yourself a glass of wine while I speak to the Bride?' The Chairman suggested. I watched Lee in silence. Lee scowled at me before turning away. He jumped on the spot when he saw that Triffid had snuck behind him. Triffid moved to the side to let Lee pass.

Lee took the gap and left as quickly as he could. If I wasn't in this blasted dress I would have planted my foot up his ass then and there.

I sighed and looked back to the Chairman. 'You have questions on my research?' I asked him. The chairman was curiously looking at Snuggles and Nugget as they looked at him. They were not warning him away yet but they looked very weary of him.

'How did you get the female to obey?' He asked me as he looked at Snuggles. Snuggles snapped her jaws at him before stepping backwards. Nugget stepped forward with a slight growl. 'That wasn't easy. We had to find a way to nip her tantrums in the bud and reinforce to her in a way that she understood that we were the boss.' I said calmly answering the question without giving details.

'Yes but HOW?' He asked me, not satisfied. Before I could think of some kind of snide remark I had a cunning and crazy idea strike me that made Odd look back at me. 'Girafarig?' She asked me. I gave her a single nod. 'Girafarig!' Odd commanded. All of my Pokemon minus Nugget and Snuggles stepped back. They were giving Nugget and Snuggles the lead.

'I can tell you or I can show you. Did you bring your Zaptor?' I asked the Chairman. He looked at me curiously before nodding. 'Yes I did. I don't like to leave valuable goods at the office where they can be stolen from under my nose.' He said to me.

He took out a Pokeball but paused. 'Mind if I stand behind you before I release her?' He asked me. 'You can on one condition. If you use me as a meat shield and I manage to tame her, you have to give her to me legally. I want her in my name.' I said to the Chairman.

He looked at me shocked. 'You drive a hard bargain Dr Milo.' He said to me with a sour frown. I simply shrugged. 'Or you could just release her and she could kill you and then try and kill everyone else here.' I pointed out to him.

I noticed Janice nearby. She was smirking. She must have been eavesdropping on the conversation. She turned to watch us curiously. She had been talking quietly with Will. They were both watching curiously now.

The Chairman obviously wasn't happy with my attitude of making him choose between risking losing his new toy or risk his life trying to control his new toy on his own. 'You have another option.' I pointed out to him. He looked hopeful for a second. 'What is my other option?' He asked.

'You figure it out for yourself or die trying. Though I have a feeling your tactics have gotten you nowhere.' I said to him calmly. The Chairman glared at me before he smirked darkly and shrugged. 'I guess I own the rest of the Stator, what is one Zaptor that is useless in comparison to the youngsters that I can train for myself?' He asked suddenly, very proudly.

Something told me that he was failing in that area too. 'You haven't actually succeeded in getting the babies to listen to any of you in the lab have you?' I asked him bluntly. The Chairman pulled a face like he wanted to spit at me but he quickly composed himself. 'Now what makes you ask that?' He then asked me with a pained smile. He seemed to want to move on with the conversation so I couldn't hurt his pride any further. I sighed and shook my head at him. 'Do we have a deal?' I asked him.

The Chairman went and stood behind me. 'You have a deal. If you can tame her you can have her. I want to film the entire interaction though. For research purposes.' He said in his smooth voice behind me. 'Go ahead and film all you like.' I said to him, feeling confident that he wouldn't pick up any of my subtle secrets in the footage.

I looked over my shoulder to see the Chairman pull out his PokeGear and turn it on to start filming. He held out the pokeball and released the Zaptor over my shoulder.

The red light zapped down in front of Nugget and Snuggles before materializing. The Zaptor gave a hiss before shrieking at the Chairman. There was a blaze of hate fire in her eyes as lightning bolted up into the sky from her back with a deafening crack.

I stepped into her line of sight and locked eyes with her. 'To get him, you go through me.' I said to her calmly. She stepped back and lowered her head with a hiss. Her tail rose up high. I could hear her claws dig in the gravel, under the pads of her feet. She was ready to pounce.

She was suddenly distracted by a pair of war like whistles from just under her nose. Nugget and Snuggles were in the same offensive position ready to jump at her if she moved forward. 'Tor!' She snapped at them.

'Snuggles fall back, Nugget you lead.' I said to them both calmly. Snuggles did as she was told and moved to stand behind my legs. This move confused the Zaptor. She looked between Snuggles and Nugget trying to figure out what was happening. Obviously their natural social order was for the females to lead since they had more raw power than the males. Snuggles not only obeyed me but let Nugget take the leading role of the attack.

The Zaptor gave a whistle that was a series of five musical intervals. Surprisingly Nugget returned that exact whistle. The Zaptor paused and then gave the same whistle again, which Nugget echoed. Nugget stood up out of his attack stance to look up at the Zaptor with soft eyes.

He wasn't being aggressive and defensive any more. He was interacting with a member of his pack. They must have had the same habit as crocodilians and some species of foul where the mother would vocalise to the unborn young through the egg shell. When the young were developed enough and close to hatching they would copy her vocalisation pattern to let her know they were about to hatch.

'Mr Chairman. You have done DNA tests on all of the Stator and Zaptor haven't you?' I asked him calmly over my shoulder while Nugget and the Zaptor seemed to have their own conversation. Snuggles obediently stayed silent.

'Yes I have.' He answered me quietly. He sounded very scared. 'Is that Zaptor the mother of my Stator?' I asked him calmly. 'Let me check that… Yes she is' He said as he continued to point the camera of his PokeGear in my direction while tapping on his screen.

With that information confirmed I listened to their whistle pattern before copying with my own whistle. 'Zaptor!' She snapped at me with a hiss, lowering her head threateningly. I repeated the whistle again and stepped forward, ignoring the threat. Nugget jumped up and headbutted his mother in the snout with a loud shrill.

She hissed and shook her head standing up tall. Sparks of electricity started to bounce from her downy feathers. I repeated the whistle and Nugget echoed it before chirping happily. 'Tor!' He said as he looked at me. I smiled and looked down at him. 'That's my dinosaur. Nugget, this is your real mother. Show her the same level of respect that you show me, no more head butting her.' I said to him in a chuckle. I was staying calm and relaxed. I wasn't going to drill her yet like I had done to Snuggles when she had aggressively rebelled against Hank right after the bug catching contest.

Somehow I could understand her rage towards the Chairman and everyone. We were both prisoners of the Pewter Museum and we both seemed to want revenge. Her form of revenge was probably just to eat the chairman though. I wanted to plan a way to financially bring the whole place down from the inside out.

Nugget lowered his head in submission before he looked up at the Zaptor. She was looking at me with a mix of confusion and rage. She was trying to work out why her offspring would listen to me. 'Zaptor… were you the alpha of your pack?' I asked her quietly.

'Zaptor!' She responded. I didn't need Odd's help to know that her tone was confirming the answer to my question in a positive tone. 'You are confused why another dominant female of your kind and your alpha born son are listening to me?' I asked her. 'Zaptor!' She said in the same confirming tone.

'I play the part of their alpha with my mate. We provide for them, protect them and teach them. In return they are given tasks that we expect to be fulfilled. Every pack has tasks that need to be done and it is the Alpha's job to make sure that they are done.' I said to her calmly.

She gave a snort and looked down at Nugget. I felt Nuget rub his muzzle on the side of my leg fondly while he chirped. 'Today I give you a choice. Join me and you can be part of this pack. No more lab tests, no more rations, no more being stuck in a poke ball. I will allow you to be outside as much as possible for little asked in return. The only thing that I ask in return is for your full obedience when I need your help to complete a task.' I said to her calmly.

At first she let out an enraged shrill in my face. She didn't make a move to attack me yet, she was simply sizing me up. Similar to how Snuggles had done to Hank when Hank had caught Tilly, his shiny beedrill. She seemed to be legitimizing my claim while also showing me how much she disliked being owned.

I could respect that. The last thing she probably remembered was being a dinosaur, leading her pack and sending them for a hunt before drowning in a mudslide. The nightmare was just getting worse for her now that she was captured, with out her pack and with her babies taken from her.

I would be furious too. Actually I was furious. Freeing this Zaptor from the Chairman was one of many steps to bringing his mini empire down, even if they did masquerade as a museum. I loved museums and the learning opportunities that they presented but Pewter Museum wasn't just a museum. They were a lucrative criminal business.

I remained silent and just watched her eyes. She took some steps back still shrieking at me. She lowered her upper body and rose her tail. I could see the muscles in her legs begin to coil as she got ready to spring at me. 'Try it…' I challenged her. I stepped forward, refusing to back down. She didn't understand what I was trying to do yet.

With a war scream she jumped at me, hind claws first, ready to slice me open on contact. She was knocked back in mid air by Nugget hitting her midsection in a tackle. They both went tumbling into the gravel. Nugget managed to hold the top position for now. He stood on her chest, got his face into her face, and returned the war cry. They were touching muzzle to muzzle while Nugget dominantly screamed down at his mother.

'Snuggles, you may make your own position clear also.' I said to her calmly. Snuggles also let out a war like shrill and jumped up next to Nugget, on his mother's chest. She also managed to reach far enough to get into the Zaptor's face. 'Stator!' They both said to her at once in angry tones.

The Zaptor rolled them both into the gravel and stood over them before screeching down at them. They scrambled under her, trying to roll over to get back on their feet. She held them down under her hand like talons to keep them pinned on their backs. She looked at me over her shoulder with a hiss. She must have considered it a cheap shot to use her offspring against her. That would have been a cheap shot, except Nugget acted on his own accord to protect me. I gave him no commands. That action had been Nugget's decision.

I slipped my own foot back and crouched into a ready stance, to fight if I needed to. This dress was getting in my way. I had to pull the fabric up so that I didn't step on the hem of the dress. 'I'm not backing down. You submit to me and stay here with your son, or you go back to the Pewter Museum. There is no other way for you. Not while the Chairman has your poke ball. I'm offering you more freedom.' I said to her bluntly.

Her crest flattened on her head when she heard my words. The aggression melted away as she looked at me seriously. She let go of Nugget and Snuggles and turned to face me properly. Nugget and Snuggles scrambled to their feet and ran around to flank me protectively. She looked like she was considering my words.

I stood up straight again and walked up to her, closing the gap. I reached up to touch her nose. She was taller than me, possibly about seven foot tall. She could have easily bitten my hand off if she wanted to. I could feel her hot breath tingle full of static against my hand.

Before I could touch her muzzle she turned into a flash of red light and was returned. 'That is close enough!' The chairman said in a voice that sounded like it was laced in rage.

I turned to face him with a frown. 'Excuse me?' I asked as I put my hand on my hips. 'I knew you were a brilliant Archeologist Dr Williams but I didn't know that you were a deceiving con woman!' He spat his words at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him as I walked up to him to get into his face. 'We had a deal. You don't want to screw me over sir.' I warned him in a deadly quiet tone. 'Is that a threat?' He asked me coldly. I stepped back and folded my arms over my chest. 'I don't make threats. I make promises that I am very happy to follow through with.' I said to him calmly. 'Do you know who you are making promises to?' He asked me as his face started to flush red. 'Do you know who you are trying to screw over? You didn't do any background checks on me before forcing me to sign my soul to the museum. You don't know what you have gotten yourself into.' I warned him.

The Chairman gritted his teeth and his face went even more red as he stood there glaring at me. 'If you are so unhappy with me, send out your Zaptor against me and tell her to kill me. If you are worthy of being her leader she will listen to you.' I challenged him. He looked like he was about to refuse my request. 'Or are you too scared to try it?' I asked him with a smirk.

There wasn't a male ever that I had come across who could refuse that level of challenge. 'Come out and kill her!' The chairman said with spittle flying from his enraged lips. If it wasn't for all of these witness' he probably would have ordered Lee to just shoot me.

In another zap or red light Zaptor stood before me again. She looked at me and then at Nugget. She was much more calm than the first time that she had come out. Nugget looked up at her and then at the Chairman. I copied her whistle call and held my hand up to her snout again. 'Who do you choose?' I asked her calmly.

She growled at me as I reached my hand closer to her nose. 'Kill her!' The chairman ordered. I smirked a little as the Zaptor touched her nose to my hand. She lowered herself a little at her hips. She was still taller than me but she slowly lowered her head so her eye level was lower than mine.

'Sweet-heart fetch your ball and bring it to me. He doesn't deserve you.' I thought across to her, doing my best to reach my mind into hers while I touched her muzzle. It must have worked because she raised her head out of my hand and turned around to face the chairman.

Her tail rose up over my head as she turned around to hissed down at him. 'Register her into my name and give her the Poke ball. She isn't yours anymore.' I said to the Chairman calmly. 'Return!' He commanded her as he held the ball up. The ball pulled Zaptor into itself against her will. She gave an enraged scream as she was pulled back into the poke ball.

The Chairman glared at me as he made a show of stuffing the poke ball into his pocket. Before I could say anything Will stepped forward and spoke up. 'Chairman Stone. If you refuse to hand over the Pokemon after a direct agreement then you are violating the Pokemon battle laws of the Council of Regions.' Will said with a smirk.

The Chairman scowled at Will. 'According to the Council of the Regions' laws, any battle with the agreement before the battle begins where it is stated that the loser will forfeit a Pokemon must be honoured. If the agreement is not honoured then the winner can claim theft against the Pokemon that was not forfeit. As an official council member and a witness to the Pokemon battle I can place you under arrest right now and charge you with the maximum penalty. If you don't comply to your warning I will arrest you now.' Will said as he walked over to the Chairman.

'This wasn't a Pokemon battle!' The chairman protested. 'Technically it was. Our Pokemon came into aggressive contact with each other. That counts as a battle. Right Will?' I asked as I looked at him. Will glanced at me from behind his mask and gave a silent nod. We both looked at the Chairman and waited.

He spat at my feet and pulled the poke ball from his pocket. I took out my PokeGear and scanned the poke ball. It contained a tyranitar. 'That is the wrong ball Mr Chairman.' I said to him with narrowed eyes. 'Is it?' He asked with a dark smile.

He released the tyranitar between Will and myself. 'Scatter!' I shouted as I jumped back, cursing the dress as I almost tripped on it. Nugget, Cheyenne, Odd and Snuggles all split into seperate directions. It didn't take long for Scout, my tauros and Triffid to catch on to the plan. They also separated into different directions.

I felt my feet lift up from off the ground as I levitated up. 'I've got your back.' I heard Alph's voice in my head. He drifted me away from the tyranitar to stand next to Triffid. I was very gently set back on my feet.

'Slllllllllllllow?' Glitz asked. She rolled onto her back where she was. She was at the feet of the tyranitar in a daze. Her stumpy legs were waving in the air as though she was walking along the ground, except she was upside down on her back, not getting away from the sudden tyranitar. 'Glitz yawn!' I called out to her. 'Slow!' Glitz responded before opening her mouth wide to yawn.

The tyranitar gave a roar and lifted his foot to stomp on Glitz. 'Nugget Double team! Grab glitz and get her out of there!' I shouted. I heard Will's voice cut in. 'Jynx my lovely use Ice Punch!' Will called out. He must have used the confusion of my pokemon scattering to call out one of his own Pokemon.

A Jynx seemed to appear out of no-where. She had incredible speed. Will must have put a huge amount of time into her training. As creepy as I thought Jynx was, she was impressive. I also noticed that she wore a lace bow around her head with a gemstone clip and a trio of large fluffy feathers sticking out the top. Like trainer like Pokemon. She had flamboyant taste like Will did.

Before the tyranitar could react to the Jynx, he was hit in the gut with an ice punch. The tyranitar skidded back on his feet from the force of the punch. When the punch hit Nugget seemed to flash step up to Glitz. He bit her tail and then dragged her away as best as he could.

'Hyper beam!' The Chairman shouted. The tyranitar started to charge a hyper beam.

'Lovely kiss my dear!' Will commanded. Jynx jumped at the Tyranitar, grabbed his head and kissed him full on the mouth before the hyper beam could charge. Jynx dropped down and kicked off the tyranitar's back before flipping away to avoid any attacks from my Pokemon that could cut in and hurt her too.

Glitz yawned at the tyranitar as she was dragged away by Nugget. 'Slow!' She said with a sleepy grin after the yawn.

If I remembered correctly tyranitar were as indestructible as the legend of godzilla. The best way to bring it down was with either power greater than itself or by chipping away at it with status affecting moves. Off the top of my head I couldn't think of anything that I had that was powerful enough to knock it out. Maybe my ancient aerodactyl could but I didn't want to risk that. Not yet. It would probably bring down Mrs Williams' house and I didn't need that on my plate right now. It looked like chipping away with status moves was my best bet. Hopefully that thing didn't know how to use earthquake. Hopefully if it did, the Chairman wouldn't think to use it.

'Triffid acid if you can reach.' I said to him calmly. I had to think up a strategy. 'Ice punch again my sweet!' Will called out. Jynx landed another punch. The ice and fighting type attack looked like it was effective. Maybe not super effective but it was effective. 'Tilly! Use twin-needle!' I called out as Triffid sprayed a fountain of purple acid at the tyranitar. The jynx only just managing to get out of the way of the purple spray from Triffid.

From the forest, twin sets of an attack that looked like poison sting came from the tree line where Tilly was hiding. The attack hit the tyranitar in the back. He gave a roar in pain. 'Tilly AGAIN! Repeat the attack until he goes down! Stay hidden!' I yelled out to her.

'Ice punch again! Make it look fantabulous my love!' Will cheered his Jynx. Will waved his hand up into the air with a bright smile to his Jynx while he spoke. Jynx landed another punch right in the tyranitars hip. 'I SAID HYPER BEAM! USE IT!' The Chairman shouted in a fit of rage.

Then I had an idea. 'Odd!' I called out. I felt Odd spike her way into my mind. 'Use psychic on all of the poke balls that the Chairman has on him. Find the Zaptor and release her, it's time to end this.' I thought to her. 'Triffid move closer and Acid again. Jynx fire on your six!' I called out. The Jynx moved to the side as Triffid sprayed the tyranitar with another fountain of acid.

The twin-needle attack kept firing from the treeline, from different spots of the treeline. Tilly must have been moving around between the trees between shots. The Tyranitar started to charge a hyper beam again. He gave a slow blink. It looked like Glitz's yawn attack was starting to take effect.

I noticed several poke balls float up out of the Chairman's pockets before Zaptor was released again in another zap of red light. 'Zaptor! Pounce on the chairman and pin him to the ground!' I yelled at her as Odd made all of the other poke balls float up into the air.

Before tyranitar's hyper beam could charge he gave a yawn and then fell to the ground asleep. The tyranitar hit the ground with a loud thump. A loud snore shook the ground before tyranitar rolled onto his back and scratched his belly like a snorlax in his sleep.

A shrill sound echoed after the snore. Zaptor used an electric attack to knock the Chairman off his feet and onto his back. He landed on the ground with a thump. Zaptor walked over to him and then stood over him. 'ZAPTOR!' She cried angrily in the Chairman's face. Electricity steamed off her in bolts that ran around her body along the ground. The Chairman looked up at the Zaptor with a panic.

'Zaptor take three steps back.' I said to her as I walked over to both of them. Zaptor looked at me with narrowed eyes but she took three steps back from the frightened Chairman. For now she was listening to me. Odd must have told her what had happened while she was in the ball.

I stopped next to the chairman and looked down at him on the ground. 'Mr Chairman, put her in my name before you are further humiliated and convicted as a criminal.' I said to him bluntly. I held my hand up. Odd levitated Zaptor's ball into my hand. 'I don't have all day Mr Chairman.' I said to him with a smile.

He looked up at me with wide eyes and gave a shudder. I held the ball out for his PokeGear to scan. He reached up with his hand to take the ball back, misunderstanding my actions. I pulled the ball out of his reach. 'No. Transfer this poke ball AND the Zaptor into my name.' I ordered him. 'You are getting a pay cut!' He spat his words at me as he held up his PokeGear.

'Am I now? That is ok, because I know how to live the broke life. Not to mention that I can get more out of you with a lawsuit.' I said with a shrug down at him. He gritted his teeth and scanned the poke ball in my hand. He then started to type into his PokeGear. 'You have no grounds for a lawsuit!' He said in a growled voice. 'I'm pretty sure that I do.' I retorted calmly.

'On what grounds?' He asked in a strained voice. 'On the account of the fact that I never signed ownership of the discovery over to you. Only Hank signed the papers and Hank and I had a written contract as a business partnership for that expedition. Without both of our signatures, whatever Hank signed is void and holds no water. So technically ALL of the Stator and Zaptor should belong to myself and Doctor Hank Williams. I can sting you for theft and fraud before I go for the kidnapping charge.' I said to him quietly, but just loud enough that I knew that Will would hear it. If Hank trusted Will as a brother in arms then I did too.

He gritted his teeth and glared up at me. 'I have better lawyers than you to throw at the court case!' He growled at me just as quietly. 'Doesn't matter. It's your word against black and white print on legal documents. Unless you are a real shit stain and try to forge my signature you won't get away with anything.' I said calmly.

The Chairman stopped typing into his PokeGear and looked at me with a glare. I scanned the Zaptor's pokeball and checked its database. The ball was in my name but not the Zaptor. She was still registered to the Pewter museum.

I felt my eye twitch. 'What is this? Put her in my name.' I said to the Chairman. He pointed at me and then spoke with a cruel smile. 'Employee of the Pewter Museum…' He then pointed at the Zaptor. 'Test subject of Pewter Museum laboratory and research division. Both of your asses are mine.' He said in a cruel chuckle.

I snorted and typed into the PokeGear with gritted teeth. 'If one of us is stuck with your ugly hide then it's not going to be an innocent party.' I said in a growled voice while I typed. I found the option to release the captured pokemon and deregister it from any ownership. She would return to wild status.

I confirmed the release before the Chairman could catch on to what I was doing. The Poke ball sprung open in my hand before giving a zapping sound. Little sparks of static burst from it as the inner computer system on that poke ball while it self destructed its fuse wires and corrupted all of its stored data.

I smirked and dropped the broken poke ball on the Chairman's chest. 'What! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?' He asked me in a rage as he sat up. I looked at the Zaptor with a smile. 'You are free to go. I am not your master and neither is anyone else. You can do anything that you want.' I said to her. I was feeling quite smug right now. It felt very satisfying to release her back into the wild. Especially in front of the Chairman.

The Chairman got up to his feet and stepped up to me. His face was red with rage and he raised his hand to strike me. Will grabbed his wrist and tugged it over his shoulder with a yank. The Chairman gave a pained yell. 'Chairman Stone. I advise that you don't touch the trainer that I am sponsoring.' Will said with a friendly smile and a chuckle.

I looked at Will surprised. He grinned and winked at me. 'What do you mean sponsoring? She is no Pokemon trainer! She is an archaeologist! MY archeologist. I OWN HER!' The Chairman yelled at Will while Will held him in a way that he couldn't move without causing pain to himself.

Zaptor didn't leave. She stayed to watch the show.

Will only laughed at the Chairman. 'Chairman Stone, she might not be a fully fledged trainer yet but she managed to get a fierce Pokemon to listen to her while you only seemed to almost repeatedly get eaten by her. You are less of a Pokemon trainer than she is. Milo understands something that you don't. Money won't buy you everything. She also has a much better grasp on how to effectively battle than you do.' Will said with a cheeky grin.

'Did I hear you correctly Mr Chairman? Did you just say that you own MY wife on MY wedding day?' Came a voice I knew too well. I looked over to the voice to see Hank riding back on Butane with a dark expression on his face. He must have been there a while, just watching and listening.

'Odd give the Chairman his poke balls back so he can leave.' I thought across to Odd hoping that we were still connected. I was busy watching Hank and not paying attention to if the Chairman got his poke balls back or not.

Hank dismounted from Butane's back and started walking over to the chairman. The knuckles on his hands cracked as he balled his hands into fists. Lee came over and put himself between Hank and the Chairman. 'Don't do it Hank…' Lee warned as he reached into his suit. He looked like he was reaching for a gun.

I reached under my silken cloak and took the leather pouch from the Safari zone off my hidden belt. I took it out and tipped two helix fossils into my hand before tying the pouch back onto my belt under the cloak. I walked over to Lee and held out my hand with one helix fossil on it. I smiled tightly at him.

My actions made Hank stop a moment. 'Lee thank you for coming to our wedding. Please feel free to go at your own leisure. Here is a gift for your attendance. Have a nice day.' I said to him. Lee narrowed his eyes at me and took the fossil. He looked at Hank with a frown and walked away.

I looked at Will and the Chairman. I put the other fossil in the Chairman's breast pocket. 'You too Mr Chairman. I will see you again after my extended honeymoon. Good day to you sir.' I said to him with a dismissive tone. Will let him go with a smile. 'Goodbye Chairman Stone.' He said with a wide smile.

The Chairman shook his arm loose before grabbing his levitating poke balls out of the air. He returned his sleeping tyranitar. The Chairman then sneered at me and tipped his top hat at me before storming away after Lee. Everyone watched them get into their luxury sedan and drive away. Once they were out of sight I sighed feeling a little less tense.

'Hank where is Mandy?' Clyde asked as he walked over. Hank shrugged and smirked. 'Probably lost. You might want to go and find her.' Hank said with a chuckle. Clyde gave a heavy sigh and slumped his shoulders before walking away. 'Screechy!' He called out to his fearow.

I looked over to the Zaptor who was watching us curiously. Snuggles walked up to Hank and nuzzled him happily. Hank jolted a little as he was given a few electric shocks by the nuzzles. 'Snuggles we need to work on your current control.' Hank said with a laugh. I noticed Odd and Alph go over to the Zaptor to talk to her.

I looked at Will with a smile. 'Thank you for the help, but what was that about you being my sponsor?' I asked him with a smile. Will grinned cheekily. 'I was bluffing, but I do want to sponsor you to be my personal agent. Especially during the war. I want you and Hank to work directly for me.' Will said quietly with a smile. 'We will talk details later.' Hank said as he looked to his side.

Belinda and Nurse Mel walked over to us. Mel was pouting. 'The Chairman says that we have to go back to work now.' Mel said sadly. I smiled and took out two more fossils from the leather pouch in a lucky dip. I held my hand out with the two fossils on it. A dome and a helix fossil.

'One for each of you. Thank you both for coming here. Please accept this small gift.' I said to them both with a smile. Belinda smirked and took the dome fossil as Mel picked up the helix fossil. 'A fossil? Look Belinda it is a spiral!' Mel said with a smile as she inspected the pattern in the stone. 'Do what you want with them, keep them as fossils or revive them and use the pokemon as companions. I don't mind.' I said to them both.

Mel looked at me with wide eyes. 'You mean I can revive this and have a new friend?' Mel asked with her eyes filling with tears. Everyone seemed to chuckle. 'Come on Mel, I will show you how to use the machine at the museum.' Belinda said with a smirk before she looked at me. 'Congratulations both of you. See you again at work.' Belinda said while she lead Mel away.

Mel was too distracted by the spiral shape in the rock to give any kind of parting words as she left what was left of the wedding.

I was secretly hoping that it would all end there just so that I could get out of this dress.

'Oh don't be like that, you look great. I say it's time for drinks, funny speeches and food!' Will said with a cheeky smile as he took Hank and I by the hand to lead up to the table of food that Mrs Williams set up.

In the short amount of time that she had to prepare she had made been successful with the spread of finger food that was laid out.


	27. Chapter 27

Black Lightning Chapter 27

Will dragged Hank and I over to the table of food that Mrs Williams had set out. The table held an assortment of finger foods. Salty snacks like chips and dips. Sandwiches. Small cakes and cookies. A deli meat platter with a few different types of cheese, some of it cut into cubes. Drinks, a mix of alcoholic and nonalcoholic. At one end of the table were a short stack of small plates and bowls with various glasses and cups.

Will let go of our hands with a smirk and got busy pouring the champagne. He handed Hank and I a glass each. I took the glass and looked at Will with a furrowed brow. 'Do we even need to do all the speeches and other social stuff now that the legal stuff is out of the way? That was tedious enough' I asked him.

Will pouted as Hank answered for him. 'Are you going to deprive this hard working man of a perfectly good party?' Hank asked me with a playful smirk. 'I'm not saying no to some sort of party I would just like to be absent from all of the crazy stuff. You know I'm not great around parties.' I said before yawning.

The past few days had been intense and rushed. I was suddenly feeling very tired. I looked at Hank with a small smile before holding my glass up to both him and Will. 'How about we toast to having fun before shit hits the fan and I leave you two to go crazy together while I go and talk to Janice?' I asked them both.

I had something important to ask Janice before she left to start the war early.

Hank and Will both smirked as they looked at me. 'You owe both of us then.' Hank said with a chuckle as he raised his glass. Will also lifted his glass and we all chinked together. 'To us surviving the shit spray about to cover the world as war breaks out.' Will said with a smirk. 'To brothers in arms surviving together.' Hank toasted, they both looked at me, it was my turn. 'To less idiots being alive after the war rolls over.' I said in a blunt tone.

Hank snorted and laughed as Will looked at me shocked. 'So dark.' He commented as he looked at me. 'Still true.' I said with a smirk before taking a sip of my drink. Hank and Will also took a sip and smirked.

'Go and do your secret deals with Janice while I discuss our second job with Will.' Hank said with a dismissive wave. I set my drink down and turned to leave. Hank grabbed my wrist and spun me back around. 'What?' I asked as I was spun.

I suddenly found Hank's lips taking mine captive, but only for a second. He let me go with a triumphant grin. 'That was slightly better, but you still need to practice.' He teased me while Will snickered. I could feel my cheeks burning. 'It's only the first day!' I said to him before turning to walk away again.

'Milo!' Hank called me in a cheek voice. I paused but didn't turn to face him. 'I love you!' He said loudly so everyone around us could hear. I couldn't help but roll my eyes before smiling. I turned to face him with a chuckle. 'I love you too! Cut the romantic crap and spend time with your other best friend! I have things to do!' I said to him with a laugh.

Hank smirked before giving a cheeky laugh. 'Then stop procrastinating and go do stuff! Don't use me as an excuse to not be productive.' Hank teased me. I rolled my eyes at him while Will laughed. 'Hurry back so you can grace us with your delightful presence!' Will cheekily said to me. I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head before walking away.

I looked around for Janice but didn't see her. She must have been in the house.

I made my way over to the house and stepped up the front steps to the front door. I opened it up and came face to face with Angus. He must have been on his way out. He held another tray of food in his hands, home-made chocolates. I stepped to the side and held the door open for him. 'Hello Angus, have you seen Janice anywhere?' I asked him as he made his way past me. Hen he walked past I took one and popped it into my mouth.

'Pin.' He responded quickly in a negative tone. 'Ok, thank you. Good job with everything Angus. You have done really well.' I said to him with a smile around the yummy chocolate. This one tasted like it had a caramel centre. Angus rolled his eyes and kept going. 'Sir.' He retorted before walking away with the food. Some part of me wanted to relate to his bad attitude. I didn't bother, I had to find Janice and the chocolate in my mouth had put me into a slightly better mood.

With the door-way clear I went into the house. 'Janice?' I called out. 'Toilet!' I heard her call back. 'I want to talk to you when you come out.' I said to her as I went over to the bathroom door. 'Are you breaking up with me?' She asked in a playful voice. I couldn't help but snicker. 'Come out here and I will tell you if you are or not.' I retorted with a smirk. I thought I heard her chuckle.

I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms over my chest to relax. I swallowed my sweet treat before another yawn escaped me. I waited for Janice to be done.

A flush sounded from the other side of the door before I heard a tap run. Janice opened the door while she was drying her hands. 'What's up?' She asked as she poked her head out of the bathroom with a smirk.

'I was thinking about doing a trade with you. Were you still interested in Chucky?' I asked her. A spark showed in Janice's eyes as she looked at me. 'Yeah I am. What were you after in return?' She asked me. 'A ground type. An onix, trapinch or maybe a sandshrew. Something that can dig that isn't a diglett.' I said to her.

'No one I know had a successful season with onix this year. Sandshrews have been bought up for the year as far as I know. I only have the ice and steel alolan sandshrew and I only managed to breed one which I already sold. I don't breed trapinch but I know a guy in Hoenn who lives where they are nesting in the wild. He owes me a favour. I can call him up and see if he can do a quick catch and send for you?' Janice asked me.

I smiled. 'Source me a Trapinch and you can have Chucky.' I responded, suddenly feeling excited. Finally something that I could use. Not that I couldn't use my other pokemon. They all had uses but I had a special spot in my heart for trapinch. It was also a bonus that this new trapinch might actually not be scared of me on the same level that Chucky was.

Janice grinned and hugged me. She must have been excited too. She had been wanting Chucky since the moment that I caught him yesterday in the Safari Zone forest.

Janice let me go and took out her PokeGear. 'I will make that call now. Come on, let's go in my room.' She said to me as she started to walk away. She was looking through her list of contacts. 'Oh and Janice, don't forget your promised Hank a mudkip before you leave.' I said to her. 'Yeah I will get that now.' She said seeming distracted.

She put the PokeGear to her ear as she stepped through the doorway of her room. Janice went to a desk and picked up a headset and connected it to her PokeGear to speak. 'Hey Ranger Cody! Listen I have a favour to ask. Yes I will pay you for it. Yes I need this done as a speed job, like it was due yesterday! Listen I need you to catch me a trapinch. Uh-huh… Yeah! Alright, scan through your options…' I stopped paying attention to Janice on the phone as I looked around.

I trusted Janice to pick the best one for me. She had been right about Glitz. Sure Glitz was a slowpoke, just the name says a lot about the species but Glitz actually seemed to like me. When Glitz had been in pain and focused she had proven herself to be useful in battle. Maybe I should teach her teleport from one of the TMs along with Scout. If only I could get her to evolve into a slowking and not devolve. Glitz could be as useful as the secret orange islands slowking that could speak. At least as a slowking her reaction time would be much faster.

For now though I would have to find a way to make her focus in battle at the drop of a hat. Without buying her a shock collar I would have to get one of my other pokemon to cause her pain. The thought made me sigh. I would need to think about that more. I didn't want to hurt Glitz to make her focus unless it was to save all of our lives.

I decided to distract myself by looking around Janice's room. Janice's room almost matched the rest of the house. Wooden floor-boards and wall paper. Janice had her own wallpaper. This wall paper was blue and covered in poliwags and magikarp swimming everywhere.

On her bed was a blue blanket with a matching blue pillow, on the pillow sat a plushie of an alolan vulpix. There was something else on her bed, Kyuubi. Kyuubi was regaly laying on his belly along Janice's bed, his tails neatly curled around himself with his head neatly rested on top of his paws.

In the middle of the room was a rug in the shape of a mantyke. Janice had a desk set up at one wall with a PC on it and another machine that looked kind of like a printer mixed with a pokemon centre healing bay. There was an attachment on the side of the printer type looking machine that looked like it was where you placed poke balls. This attachment was the shape of an egg cup.

A white light shone on that strange cup shape extension and a poke ball materialized there. I took out my PokeGear again and scanned the ball.

It was a mudkip, The mudkip was registered to Hanks name. She must have transferred the registration of it over to Hank in her PC before bringing it out.

Janice must have had a lot of money to be able to set up her own miniature Pokemon Centre in her own bedroom. I couldn't exclude the fact that she could have gotten some of the extra gear from Clyde.

Janice picked up the poke ball and tossed it over to me. 'Take that to Hank and go catch Chucky. Bring him back and I will do the trade.' Janice said with a smile to me. She was still on the phone. 'No not you Cody. The trapinch is for my new sister-in-law. She just married my brother today. It's not a wedding present. She caught a Pokemon that I really wanted. She offered to trade that Pokemon to me if I could get her a Trapinch.' Janice said down the line of the call.

Janice smirked as she looked at me. I walked over to the door to exit the room. 'No, but she is someone that you would admire. She discovered the new electric fossil pokemon. No, no, the Pewter Museum won't release her name publicly because they want all the credit…' While Janice spoke she waved me out the door.

I looked down at the ball in my hand. It was a personalised ultra ball. Janice had her own breeding insignia on it and a picture of a mudkip lasered into the front, above the button. It looked like she did this with all of the pokemon that she bred.

If she could afford to do that with all of her blood lines then she must have been making a bundle from breeding rare and starter pokemon. Ultra balls were not an item just any trainer could afford and custom balls were even more expensive. I had to admit it was an effective way to market the quality of the pokemon inside the ball. Especially if they came from an exceptional breeder.

Well done Janice. It looks like you set yourself up for life financially. A part of me wished that I could do that.

I wandered back outside, almost bumping into Angus the angry pinsir on the way out. 'Woops! Sorry Angus. I wasn't paying attention.' I said quickly as I skipped past him quickly so he could get back into the house. He didn't bother responding.

I easily found Hank and Will, they were still where I left them at the table. Hank was tossing cheese cubes into the air and trying to catch them in his mouth. He missed a cube but Snuggles caught it with a triumphant chirp. She chewed on the cheese cube, zapping it with electricity between her teeth to melt it before she licked her teeth clean and ate it happily.

Will chuckled while he watched Hank. 'I bet you won't get the next one.' Will teased. 'Using psychic powers is cheating Will!' Hank said to him before tossing another cheese cube in the air.

'Hank I have something for you from Janice.' I said to him in a sing-song voice as I walked closer. Hank looked at me with a childish grin. The cheese cube he just threw into the air bounced off his head and into the waiting mouth of the happy Snuggles. 'Mudkip?' Hank asked me with a grin. 'Mudkip.' I confirmed.

'Mudkip?' Will asked as he looked at me hold the ball out to Hank. 'Needed one for work. It was part of the plan when I only had legal carry capacity of four. Janice said she would give me one of hers from this season as a wedding present.' Hank said excitedly as he seemed to teleport to me to take the ball from my hand. I snickered quietly as he looked at the ball.

'This is awesome. My first official starter pokemon!' Hank said with a grin. Will started to laugh. 'It doesn't count, you didn't receive it from a professor.' Will teased. 'Shut up Will! It's one of the starter breeds. That is good enough for me.' Hank retorted. I laughed a little before sighing. 'Now to catch Chucky.' I said quietly.

'Catch Chucky? The tangela?' Hank asked as he looked at me curiously. 'Yeah, He is too scared of me for me to work with him. Janice wants him so I am trading Chucky to Janice for a trapinch.' I said to Hank with a shrug. Hank looked at me for a moment while he thought about it. 'That is probably for the best. Good luck getting him. That Chansey of yours is playing the role of his bodyguard now.' Hank said as he pointed across the yard at the two of them.

That Chansey was a bump in the road that I hadn't taken into account. She didn't seem to like me. I guess she and Chucky had something in common. I had scared the wits out of both of them right before catching them. Chucky was still scared but the Chansey seemed to hold a grudge now.

I sighed and reached behind my back under the cloak and felt along my string of poke balls. I took out Chucky's ball as I approached them. 'Chucky…' I called out in a small voice. The tangela whimpered and hid behind the Chansey. The Chansey turned to face me with a frown. She looked me up and down with a pout.

I stopped where I was before kneeling down to Chucky's height. 'Chucky, I've decided to trade you to Janice. You aren't scared of her and it isn't good for us to be together if you are scared of me.' I said to him calmly while he had behind the Chansey. Chucky peeked out from behind Chansey.

Chansey glared at me before letting rip a string of shouted words, all consisting of her name of course. This was interesting. It was the first time that I had been yelled at by one of my own pokemon. 'Slow down. I can't understand if you speak so fast.' I said to her as I held my hands up, one of my hands still holding onto Chucky's ball. Chucky saw it and hid behind Chansey again.

Odd came over and bleated at the Chansey before she looked at me. 'She says that if you want to trade Chucky, you will need to trade her too. Chucky is her friend and she isn't going to be separated from him.' Odd echoed to me in my mind.

'That is a very reasonable request. You don't have any other friends here Chansey?' I asked as I looked at the chansey. She puffed out her cheeks and shook her head. She was reminding me of a spoilt jigglypuff right now, but I was going to let it ride for now. Soon she would be Janice's problem. 'Alright, lets go and tell Janice, I'm sure that we can work something out.' I stood up again. Chucky whimpered and stayed behind Chansey.

I sighed. 'Chucky Return.' I returned him in a blink of red light. 'Come on Chansey, lets go make some deals with Janice.' I waved my hand at her to follow. 'Chansey!' She agreed.

We went back to Janice's room where she was still at the PC. She was scrolling through files of various Trapinch and still on the call with the Ranger. 'They are all average, except for the ones with ideal personalities, their stats are below average. Send me the Quirky one with the above average speed and defense stats. Yeah that one, the male.' Janice said over the call.

I went over to the bed and sat on the edge, next to the sleeping Kyuubi. Chansey stood in the doorway with a frown. We waited for Janice to finish on the call.

On the PC screen I could see Janice close all the windows showing all of the trapinch that the Ranger scanned in. Then she pulled up another screen and logged in. It was the data base for all of her pokemon. I could see that she only had a few of them actually stored in there. The rest must have been out and free in her secret hideouts.

A notification window popped up with the request to transfer the trapinch for a fee. Janice accepted the request and typed in the appropriate details to wire the ranger the money directly. 'A pleasure doing business… what's this?' Janice said before another notification popped up with a picture of a sandile on it.

A small screen popped up over the notification. It was a view of the other caller. A man with brown hair and green eyes showed on the other side of the call. He smiled a little. He must have been able to see me through the camera that Janice had mounted on her screen. 'A present for the bride. This Sandile has been bugging me for months. If the lucky Archaeologist can use her and give her a home then she is a gift from me.' Ranger Cody wait with a smile.

'Are you sure?' I asked him. He gave a nervous chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. 'I am very sure. She has sunk my outpost office under route one-hundred and eleven ten times in the last three months. I don't know what she wants, but everyone who comes past the outpost sees the damage she has done and well… they decide to not catch her, or worse they ignore her. Every time she gets ignored she becomes more destructive. Janice told me that you have caught a couple of destructive Pokemon already and turned them around.' He said to me with a hopeful smile.

It was my turn to give a nervous chuckle. 'They are still a work in progress…' I admitted with a smile. 'Not from what I hear. I was told that you caught a very dangerous victreebel that had actually been eating people. Janice told me that he listens to you fully and does everything that you ask him.' Ranger Cody said to me. Janice only smirked while she looked at me.

I laughed a little then. 'Umm… yes. He does. I only caught him yesterday though and everything I ask him to do I almost have to justify it to him as a good idea for him to agree with it.' I said with a shrug. 'He hasn't eaten you though. Janice said that you had him watch over you the same night that you caught him. I wouldn't make a pokemon that had personally eaten people protect me at night. Not while I slept.' He said with a shudder. I just shrugged at that.

'You are qualified for this sandile. She is only a destructive attention seeker, not a man eater. I trust Janice's judgement on people. If she says you are great with dangerous and problem pokemon then I believe her.' Ranger Cody said. Janice looked at me smugly. 'Thank you for your kind gift Ranger Cody.' I said to him with a sheepish grin.

'You are welcome Doctor Williams. If you need a favour or have any questions about the sandile and trapinch feel free to call me. I asked Janice to give you my personal number. I must go. I need to rebuild the Ranger outpost again. Hopefully for the final time.' Ranger Cody said with a furrowed brow and a nervous laugh.

Janice accepted the sandile transfer and went into her files. I watched Janice change the Sandile's registration to my name before she told the PC to eject the sandile. A brown poke ball materialised on the cup shape extension. On the front of the brown poke ball was a yellow hazard symbol.

'What does that mean?' I asked Janice. I got up to walk over to the poke ball. I picked it up when I got to the desk. 'That is a special Ranger ball. They only use those in emergencies on pokemon on a rampage or pokemon found to have endangered human lives. It must have been all he had to catch the sandile right as she dropped the Ranger outpost again. She dropped it while you were getting Chucky for me. The Yellow Hazard symbol is to warn any authorities in an emergency that the pokemon contained inside could potentially be dangerous or have a bad history with people.' Janice said to me with a chuckle.

'I feel like Triffid needs this ball.' I said with a chuckle before putting the brown poke ball behind my back to clip it onto the spot where Chucky's ball had been. I wasn't going to let her out just yet.

'Ready to trade Chucky now?' Janice asked excitedly as she got the trapinch in her system ready to trade. 'About that. This Chansey wants to be traded too you as well if you are taking Chucky. It leaves me with the problem of not having a Chansey and I think I'm going to need one.' I said to Janice. Janice looked at the Chansey and then shrugged.

'I will just trade you mine. I caught one as well and I can tell you now that the one I caught doesn't like me either.' Janice said in a matter of fact tone. I looked across to the Chansey. 'Are you happy with this?' I asked her. Chansey looked between us before giving a single nod. Then she returned herself into her safari ball behind my back.

'Well that was easy enough. Maybe too easy.' I said as I took Chansey's shivering safari ball off the belt behind my back. Janice only smirked. 'Well I don't think it will, your Chansey is sassy! Extra sassy. Actually so is the one that I caught. We are both going to have trouble with them.' Janice said with a laugh. 'It is what it is. I'm not taking any chansey back to the safari zone to release them.' I said with a sigh.

I put Chucky's safari ball on the egg cup like attachment for the computer. Janice typed in the confirmation for the trade between Chucky and the trapinch. Chucky's ball turned into a white light and vanished before another white light flashed and a blue and yellow quick ball was put in its place.

I picked up the quick ball and scanned it with my PokeGear. It contained a male Quirky trapinch. He was only a month old. Another baby for my squad of baby pokemon. I was ok with this. Actually I was very happy with this. The thing that made me the most happy was that he was now registered in my name.

I put Chansey's safari ball on the egg cup piece of the computer attachment. Janice went into her system and found her Chansey. She confirmed the trade and my safari ball vanished. It was replaced by another safari ball. I picked it up and clipped it back onto my belt behind my back.

'Thanks Janice.' I said with a smile. Janice smirked at me. 'No chance you would trade me Cheyenne?' She asked me in a cheeky voice. I laughed. 'Not a chance, not unless you want Nugget to have an all out protest. Those two seem to be inseparable friends now.' I said with a laugh.

Janice rubbed her chin while she smirked. 'Maybe your new trapinch and Cheyenne will get busy together and make a lot of little yanma babies.' Janice said. I chuckled and shrugged. 'Anything is possible. Baby steps though. They aren't even adults yet.' I pointed out to her. Janice pouted at me. 'Party pooper. A girl can dream!' Janice said to me with a pout.

'Hush and give me that cute Ranger's number already!' I said to her with a laugh. 'Janice smirked and typed into her PokeGear before i got a notification on my gear. I took it out again and looked at the screen. I pressed the option to save the contact details into my PokeGear and then sent a notification to Ranger Cody to let him know that it was done. He responded by sending me thumbs up emoticon.

I gave a sigh and looked at Janice. 'I guess this will be the last time that I see you until… I don't know.' I said as I looked at Janice, I could feel myself begin to frown. Janice shrugged before looking at me with a serious expression. 'Don't die before I get back.' Janice warned me. 'Me die before you? You are going to enemy territory.' I pointed out to her.

We both sighed. Janice stood up and hugged me. I hugged her back. 'I hate to admit to it but I do need to go, like now. Kyuubi is going to get picked up tomorrow by Alph.' Janice said to me as she gave me an odd look. 'Why?' I asked her. 'Apparently Kyuubi has business in Alola. He is going with you on your honeymoon to ditch you for some secret mission of his.' Janice said as she looked past me to her bed.

I looked behind myself to see Kyuubi watching us calmly. He had woken up and was watching us silently. 'Alakazam!' Alph said as he stepped into the room. It was then that I noticed that Janice had gotten out of her formal wear and into her trainer gear. She was packed and ready to go.

'I will be back to bring you to Alola when you are ready.' Alph said across to me in my mind. I nodded to Alph. Janice and Alph were then gone. Alph had teleported them both. Janice was gone. She would be in Kalos now. I sighed and looked across to Kyuubi. The back of my mind was still processing their sudden departure. I felt like I was waiting for the shock to hit me and the realisation to sink in.

Kyuubi got off the bed and walked up to me. He sat in front of me. His red eyes started to glow as he looked at me. I felt a presence in my mind but there were no words yet. I did hear a deep and smooth chuckle. Kyuubi's eyes stopped glowing and he walked out of the room ahead of me.

What was that?

I walked out of Janice's room with too many emotions floating around in my head. I very suddenly had a lot of questions about Kyuubi. He seemed to be as powerful or even more powerful that Alph. The scary part was that no one noticed Kyuubi's power because Alph's raw presence was so in-your-face you couldn't just ignore the alakazam being there.

I felt a shiver go up my spine and a cold chill flow through the house when Kyuubi walked out of that front door. I silently followed Kyuubi outside to go and find Hank to tell him. He needed to know that his sister was now gone. She had left for the war.


	28. Chapter 28

Black Lightning Chapter 28

I walked out of the Williams house in a daze and walked up to Hank. When Hank saw my face his smile fell away. 'Janice left didn't she?' He asked in a grim voice. I nodded before looking at him a little confused. 'What else?' He asked while he watched me.

I looked around for Kyuubi but didn't see him before I looked at Hank. 'Apparently Kyuubi has a mission in Alola. He is coming with us when Alph teleports us there.' I said to Hank. Hank looked equally confused before he looked at Will. 'Do you know anything about this secret mission?' Hank asked Will.

Will shrugged. 'I don't know. Maybe he got a direct mission from the Council of Regions? He is technically a higher rank than all of us in the combined Kanto-Johto Self Defense area. Kyuubi isn't just a veteran, he obtained the rank of Grand Admiral too. He is an officer.' Will said as he looked between both of us.

Suddenly Hank was snickering. 'Janice is out ranked by a pokemon. Oh she is going to LOVE that.' He said before laughing. I could only frown. 'Hank its not funny… Kyuubi is no joke.' I said to him quietly.

Hank quickly settled down and looked at me seriously. Will was also watching me. 'I feel like Kyuubi is a lot stronger than Alph, and we all know how strong Alph is. Kyuubi just before… he… I don't know how to describe it but he laughed at me.' I said quietly. 'He laughed at you? How is that scary?' Hank asked me quietly.

I pressed my lips together while I tried to think of how to describe it. 'He laughed at me in my head like how Alph talks to us on a personal level, except this was on a much deeper level than Alph goes into the mind. Kyuubi had the deep laugh that you would imagine a devil having. It gave me chills to say the least.' I whispered to both of them.

Will's eyes had wondered past me to look behind me. Will looked a little pale. More pale than usual. I slowly turned to see Kyuubi sitting behind me. He was simply looking up at me with his red glowing eyes. His tails were fanned and swishing. He didn't seem impressed that I was talking about him behind his back.

My flight response broke and I went right to fight. I frowned at him. 'Come on! You can't tell me now that you doing something to creep me out wouldn't make me say something to try and figure out what the hell just happened.' I snapped at him.

Kyuubi stood up. I couldn't hear the growl but I could feel the air vibrate as his upper lip curled up over his fangs. He gave a snort and turned to walk away from me. 'He wants you to follow him.' I heard Odd's soft voice in my mind. Odd must have been watching from somewhere.

I looked over my shoulder to Hank and Will. 'I've never seen Kyuubi get angry before.' Hank said in a stunned tone, he had gone white with shock. Will was frozen stiff where he was as well.

'I will be back, I'm going to go and talk to him.' I said before turning to follow Kyuubi. Hank and Will didn't try to stop me. They must of had a healthy fear of ninetales in general, or maybe just of Kyuubi. I would have to ask them about it later.

Kyuubi lead me to the path that went to the Lake of Rage. After a while he turned into the thick of the forest. I followed him between the trees the best that I could. It wasn't easy in this stupid dress. The dress kept getting caught on shrubs and twigs.

Soon he leapt up onto a rocky ledge and turned to face me. He sat there and looked at me with his red eyes. I looked around for a spot to sit but decided to just stand. There was nothing here to sit or lean against except for mushroom covered tree trunks. They didn't look very comfortable to lean against.

'My business is not your business or anyone else's business! NOT unless I decide to share.' That same deep voice said. I looked up at Kyuubi. It must have been him speaking because no one else was here. 'Did you just speak?' I asked him. I felt a little dumbfounded and for once part of me was actually scared. Not much scared me, but this did for some reason.

Kyuubi said nothing. He jumped down from the ledge and stood before me. His eyes began to glow again. Instead of a laugh I heard that deep voice in my mind. 'Don't tell anyone and don't make me regret trusting you. No one is to know of this. Not even Hank. NO ONE!' The voice ordered in my head.

That voice was making my head spin. I pressed my hands to my brow while I watched Kyuubi's eyes. I sucked in a sharp breath as a sudden pain spiked and then increased. There wasn't just pain, there was pressure too. It felt like my head was going to burst off my shoulders. Kyuubi made it worse until I fell to my knees in agony. I groaned to try and ease the painful sensation.

'Make oath. You will tell no one that I can speak.' This time the voice was not in my head. Hot breath washed over my hands while I held my head. 'I vow on my life I will tell no one.' I managed to stutter before all of the pain was gone.

The sudden r mental elease made me dizzy. I wobbled a little on my knees before I felt long warm tails wrap around me and hold me up. I panted and slowly let go of my head. I looked up to see that Kyuubi had changed.

He was still a fox but he was more like a spirit anthro fox from the banishment world than a pokemon ninetales. He had a humanoid form. His eyes were still red and his hair was still a creamy white. He kept his fox ears and tails but the rest of him looked perfectly human. Like the legends about fox spirits in my world said, they were either elderly and frail looking people or they were incredibly attractive on an unexplainable supernatural level.

I looked into his eyes, shocked. Kyuubi didn't look happy or impressed. His eyes were calculating while he watched me. I was very aware of how much I was at his mercy. More so than when I fought Triffid or the aerodactyl flock to catch them. Kyuubi was on a whole nother level. A level that was far beyond me.

At least with Triffid I knew that a few well placed kicks and some yelling would get him to stay in the pokeball after a while of exchanging blows. It was a similar case with the aerodactyl flock. Technically we all broke the rules in catching them but it was a life or death situation and the guy at the entrance did make a specific point to tell us to NOT DIE!

Kyuubi out classed all of them. For all I knew he was a thousand years old. I already knew he was a seasoned war veteran, which meant he knew how to kill me in more ways than I could possibly comprehend, or do worse than death. He was a ninetales. It was amazing they weren't considered legendary pokemon. Especially with all the crazy shit they were rumoured to be able to do.

Slowly Kyuubi's serious expression softened. He must have been watching my thoughts. I could feel my cheeks burn. He still wore the sash around his neck but that was the ONLY thing that he was wearing. He was definitely male. Even in a relaxed state. His body was flawless too, like a greek marble sculpture. He was relaxed but I could see the definite muscle tone. I forced myself to only look up at his eyes. If he didn't still have the fox ears and the nine tails I would have thought he was a model or some kind of athlete.

I opened my mouth to ask him something but a finger was pressed to my lips to silence me. His finger felt so soft. I was beginning to have a hard time focusing. Some other emotion or sensation was beginning to stir in me. I didn't quite recognise what it was.

'Your questions will be answered in time. For now I need a master. Iris is getting old and Janice, I will have to guard her during some parts of the war. I can not give Janice orders and have her be my master. I will not submit to the Council of Regions, they have been corrupted. Since you vowed to keep my secret, I vow that while you remain silent, I will be loyal to you for the rest of your life. You are lucky you did make that vow. It would have been a shame to kill you.' Kyuubi said to me in a voice that was so deep and smooth I felt like crying. My vision was starting to blur a little while tears stung at my eyes.

He was too sexy. I thought that Hank was too much eye candy for me but Kyuubi took it to a whole nother level. If he was going on my honeymoon then things had the potential to get wild. Especially beyond what I felt I could cope with on an emotional level.

'I will not do such a thing to you while Hank lives. I am still under oath to Major Frederick Williams that I would protect the wellbeing of his whole family the best that I could. If I were to mate you then it would crush Hank emotionally. That goes against my oath of protecting the wellbeing of the family.' Kyuubi said to me with a frown.

Ok. I was safe from Fox rape, that was nice to know. But that only prompted other questions in me.

He had honour. He had to have a master. Was he a celestial fox? Did he transcend the forces of yin and yang? If so, how did he get here from my world? Were the full legends of the fox spirits a thing in the Pokemon world too? Were the chosen foxes messengers for the deity of this world as well as the banishment one? Was there a power difference between the ninetales of "wild status" and "servant status" like the fox spirits of the banishment world? The facts I could get together and the questions that I had all swirled in my mind like a storm.

'Hush! Be calm. You will get answers my pet. Right now you must pretend that nothing has happened here, that you could understand me because of your own developing psychic abilities.' Kyuubi said to me as he cupped my face in his hands. His brow was slightly furrowed while he looked at me. He looked like he was worried about me. I had no doubts now that he was reading my mind and following my thoughts.

I took a deep breath and tried to empty my mind. Slowly I exhaled. I focused on Kyuubi's eyes. I was very aware that he could do any number of things to me against my will right now. Being eaten hollow of my very life essence or being spirited away the two biggest things in my mind. I took another deep breath and exhaled slowly.

Only look at his eyes. Only think about the red in his eyes. My mind slowly emptied.

'Better, much better. Well done. With more practice you will be a formidable force. However, Milo tonight in the witching hour, I will need your help with a very special task. Pack extra poke balls, some ID from the banishment world and yummy dried meat treats.' Kyuubi said to me with a frown. 'Poke balls, banishment world ID and extra yummy treats for my favourite ninetales. Anything else?' I asked as I looked at him.

Kyuubi smirked darkly. A smoke started to leak from between his lips. 'Just a taste of something special to link us together better. I need to become your familiar to keep my power from waning any further.' He said while he watched me. 'Pardon?' I asked.

Suddenly Kyuubi's lips were on mine. Despite the dark smirk the kiss was gentle and it made me feel safe. I could feel Kyuubi's power and energy, he shared it with me. After a moment I could feel something uncomfortable tugging at my very being. Soon it finished and Kyuubi broke away with a sweet smile.

I could feel my cheeks burning. 'Did… did I just cheat on Hank?' I asked, stunned. 'No, I'm just a Pokemon that loves getting his ears tickled by his favourite Milo.' Kyuubi said with a dark laugh before he transformed back into the Pokemon that I was familiar with seeing him be.

I watched Kyuubi panting like a dog for a moment. He then looked up at me with a wide smile, his tongue lolling out to the side of his maw. I could only look at him with a furrowed brow. He looked very pleased with himself now, and relaxed. He knew that he had me in a Checkmate.

Slowly I stood up, still watching him. I could feel a connection to his mood, he was indeed very pleased with himself. 'You taste good.' He said to me with a deep chuckle in my mind. 'I don't think I want to know that I taste good.' I said to him with a frown.

'No, I don't either. I will need to protect you from the others. They will want a taste too now that I have found you.' Kyubi said. I didn't quite understand what he was going on about. Kyuubi brushed one of his tails in my empty hand and wrapped it around my hand to give me a gentle tug.

Confused, I followed Kyuubi. I slipped my hand out of his tail's grip. For some reason he only wrapped a different tail around my hand. 'Isn't it a thousand year curse for someone to grab one of your tails?' I asked him while he lead me back through the trees. 'Yes, but I grabbed you with my tail. I am giving you my thousand year blessing.' Kyuubi said with a deep chuckle.

'I hope that you are joking.' I said to him with a furrowed brow. 'Why?' He asked as he looked over his shoulder at me. Kyuubi seemed confused by my displeasure. 'If the legends in my world are true about fox spirits then I'm about to end up with a whole den of foxes living with me.' I said in a daze.

Kyuubi went silent then. I couldn't quite pin his sudden mood shift. Guilt? Sorrow? He felt like he was trying to move on from something deeply painful that he blamed himself for.

Kyuubi lead me back to the Williams' house, still refusing to let me let go of his tail. Other than that he pretended that nothing had happened.

One I was in sight, Will and Hank ran up to me with worry all over their faces. 'Milo are you ok?' Will asked me before Hank could get a word out. 'Yeah why?' I asked as I looked between both of them. 'Well Kyuubi looked angry at you and now you are holding his tail. Kyuubi never let anyone touch his tails, not even to groom them.' Hank said to me with a furrowed brow. Hank seemed confused and disturbed by Kyuubi refusing to let my hand go with his tails.

I looked down at Kyuubi. I remembered the promise I made him. I looked back to Hank and Will. 'It was just a misunderstanding. Kyuubi and I talked it out. Well I did a lot of talking because I'm still trying to learn to understand Pokemon with my new abilities.' I said with a shrug.

Lying through my teeth to Hank made me feel a little sick but a promise was a promise and if it protected Hank I think I could live with it. I hope. 'You are protecting him. Trust the old fox.' Kyuubi echoed in my mind. 'I wish i knew what from exactly!' I echoed my thoughts back to Kyuubi. He gave me a mental shrug. 'Time will tell my sweet pet. You just need to be ready for some weird things to happen… all the time.' Kyuubi echoed to me in response. I bit back a sigh at those words.

'So why are you holding Kyuubi's tail?' Will asked suddenly. 'He wanted me to be able to hear his thoughts clearly. He hasn't cursed me by the way. I didn't just go grabbing his tail. I'm not an idiot!' I snapped at Will a little as I frowned. Will frowned at me.

I didn't mean to snap at Will. I was just frustrated. I liked Will. It was just all these sudden things happening in my life. Kidnapped by the Pewter Museum. Getting Married. Becoming Kyuubi's new "pet". Having a whole team of Pokemon. Being dragged into a war. Being held at gun-point. Having the biggest discovery of my entire career snatched from my hands. It was all stacking up and brewing in my inner cauldron of rage, ready to boil over.

I let out a sigh and shook my head. 'Sorry Will. I'm overtired and the stress of the wedding, getting held and gunpoint and this war coming up… I think I'm starting to crack. I'm sorry.' I apologised to him. Will smiled a little and waved his hand. 'I can understand that. You should try doing my job one day. I don't just sit around waiting for challengers to come and battle me all day.' Will said as he gave me a wink. I smiled, glad i was forgiven. If anyone knew stress I guess it was the Elite Four members.

'Will get your own bride to wink at!' Hank snapped at Will. I couldn't help but giggle at that point. The playful banter between Hank and Will lightened the mood quickly.

Kyuubi let go of my hand and silently walked away. I could still feel his presence in the back of my mind. Unlike with Odd and Alph, Kyuubi's mental connection to me didn't fade out as the physical distance grew between us. That weird kiss must have done something. He must not have been joking about being a familiar thing.

I hope this didn't class me as a witch or something. I would rather like to avoid magic and hexes. I've seen enough historical damage done by magic users in my own world. I would prefer to not be one of them.

'But I like to wink at girls! All the girls deserve to be winked at so they know they are a joy to look at! Especially the smart girls, they are extra attractive! They deserve the most winks and adoration!' Will protested in his usual flamboyant way as Hank started to wrestle him with a laugh. 'That is still my bride you are flirting with!' Hank protested.

I felt a tug on my dress and looked down to see Cecilia. Cecilia looked up at me with a pout. 'Is Aunty Janice really gone already?' She asked me. I turned to face her and then knelt down to face her.

I decided to ignore Will and Hank fooling around. 'She had to leave early. Now that we know for sure there are Kalos soldiers here waiting for the green light to attack, she has to go and secure a position in Kalos as quickly as she can.' I said to her.

'So she can find a way to stop the fighting?' Cecilia asked me. I nodded. 'So she can find a way to stop the fighting. I will be here to try and help find a way to stop the fighting.' I said to her softly. Cecilia looked down with tear filled eyes before she looked up at me again.

'Aunty Milo, can you be my show and tell when you come back from the honeymoon?' She asked me. That was a quick change in topic. 'Be your show and tell?' I asked her. 'Yes at school. We have show and tell time near the end of the day. Everyone has a day of the week that they do show and tell for the class. I want to tell the class about my new Aunty.' Cecilia said with a small blush and a hopeful smile.

She looked at me with big hopeful eyes while she fidgeted with the rim on her dress. 'You want me to come to your school? I thought that you becoming a Pokemon trainer would be more exciting news than you getting a new Aunty.' I pointed out to her, I gave her a playful bop on the nose with my finger.

Cecilia shook her head. 'No most of my class have probably gotten their trainer's license as well. I want something better. You can bring Nugget and show everyone your new discovery!' Cecilia said with bright eyes and a smile.

'I can but I can't do it until the day AFTER tomorrow. Tonight I will be on my honeymoon and then tomorrow Uncle Hank and I will be negotiating to buy a house on route thirty-two. On the other side of the peninsula to Goldenrod City. We won't be far away from you at all, just on the other side of the mountains.' I said with a small smile.

Cecilia gave an excited squeak and hugged me. I chuckled and hugged her back. 'Thank you Aunty Milo! I'm going to have to teach my pidgeys to fly to your house so we can write to each other. My teacher said that it would be good for everyone to have a pen pal so we can practice writing better.' Cecilia said excitedly.

'That sounds like a lot of fun. How many pokemon did you and Uncle Hank adopt yesterday any way?' I asked her. Cecilia started to count on her fingers as she spoke. 'We got five pidgey, seven rattata, three venonat, one spearow, four caterpie, two weedle and one hoot hoot. Uncle Hank and I haven't split them between us yet. We need to do that before you leave.' Cecilia said in a suddenly very serious voice.

'Sounds like you made some sad Pokemon happy. They will have a home here now and things that they can do.' I said with a small smile. 'What would you make them do?' Cecilia asked me. 'Teach them what a Kalos soldier looks like. If they see one they can come and warn you and show you how to get away safely. Because they are common Pokemon in the wild the Kalos soldiers will probably ignore them if they see them.' I said to Cecilia.

'Oh! That is clever! We won't need to get stuck in a scary spot again like this morning.' Cecilia said happily.

I smiled a little sadly. I had a gut wrenching feeling that Cecilia would get stuck in that spot many times before the war ended.

'HANK!' Mandy's voice yelled out again from the forest side of the house. She came back riding on Mr Grumpy with Clyde sitting next to her. Mr Grumpy was being led out of the surrounding forest by Screechy. Mandy's hair was in a windblown mess now. Possibly from the ride when she tried to chase Hank on Butane.

'Hank run!' Will said laughing. I looked up to see Hank let go of Will and run to the house. 'You can't run from me forever!' Mandy called out. I looked over to Mr Grumpy. Mandy jumped down from Mr Grumpy's back and chased after Hank, into the house.

For an air head, Mandy sure was focused and committed to dishing out the injustices of not looking good. If there was ever a fashion police, she would have been the Chief Officer.

I looked at Cecilia with a giggle. 'Shall we eat and then get out of these dresses? I miss my comfortable clothes.' I asked Cecilia. 'Yes. I'm worried that I will get this dress dirty. I want to play with my new Pokemon and not make Mama angry.' Cecilia said to me.

Cecilia and I ate a quiet lunch together, joined by Clyde and Will while Hank avoided Mandy's rampage in the house. After we ate as much as we could, we all got changed into our regular clothes.

Except for Will. Will had to leave and return to the Indigo Plateau. The poor man had a war to plan for.

Mandy ran out of energy and soon fell asleep on the couch. This gave Hank a chance to split the adopted Pokemon with Cecilia. In the end they had split the adopted pokemon the best that they could.

Watching them split the pokemon between themselves was like watching the two high-school class captains pick their dodge-ball teams for a heated game. The only difference was there was no nerd or dweeb who got picked last, every decision was negotiated between Hank and Cecilia. Some of the Pokemon were even given the choice of who they preferred to train under.

The four caterpie almost had a brawl to decide who of the two would go with Hank, they all seemed to want to go with Cecilia.

Hank now had two pidgey, four rattata, one venonat, one spearow, two caterpie and a hoot hoot.

Cecilia took three pidgey, three rattata, two venonat, two caterpie, and the two weedle.

Hank had his shiny beedrill so he let Cecilia have both of the weedle. Cecilia already had a fearow in her house and had taken two of the venonat, so she let Hank have the spearow and the hoot hoot. They both registered their new respective pokemon in their names.

The unwanted pokemon seemed very excited to suddenly have trainers who were willing to interact with them. I would hate to think of the neglect most of them probably had to endure just because they were common and their past owners had decided to not have them any more. The caterpie and weedle were probably lucky they hadn't been adopted just to be food for a different pokemon.

The next set of decisions that needed to be made were regarding which pokemon to bring on the Honeymoon.

I had already promised Triffid that I would take him so he could go fishing. 'Wait, Triffid likes to fish? How did you find this out?' Hank asked me when I voiced that decision to him. Hank and I were both packing for our night camping at this mystery cove that Hank had chosen as our honeymoon destination.

We were alone in Hank's room for the first time ever. Mrs Williams hadn't allowed us to be in the house in the same room alone until after the wedding. She was a little old fashioned but we respected her wishes. This was HER house after all.

'Triffid learned at the dratini pond in the Danger Zone of the Safari Zone. We showed him that if he held poke food in his vines and held it under the water then fish would bite. It is how we caught Janice her new dratini without a fishing rod. Triffid also discovered that he likes to eat seafood. He really likes to go fishing.' I summarised for Hank.

Hank just stared at me with his jaw hanging wide open. 'So you're telling me that Triffid listens to you because you promise him fishing trips?' he asked me with wide eyes. 'That is part of the reason yes. The other part is that he knows I'm not scared of stomping the acid out of him to cram him into a ball if he pisses me off.' I said with a shrug. 'So that is how you get an almost eight foot tall man-eating plant to listen to you… stomp all over their face before they can grab you. Yeah I guess that makes sense.' Hank said with a dry laugh while he shook his head.

'Who else are you bringing?' He asked. 'Since Odd and Butane want to stay behind with their egg we might need a mount, so I think I will bring the Tauros. I'm thinking of naming him Houston.' I voiced my thoughts out loud.

'Why Houston?' Hank asked me while he pulled a face. He clearly didn't like the name. 'You can't tell me that Tauros doesn't have a striking resemblance of a Texas Longhorn bull.' I pointed out to him. Hank smirked and snickered. 'You are just making that argument so you can abuse the quote "Houston we have a problem!" I know you too well.' Hank said to me as he folded his arms over his chest. Ceasing his packing for a moment.

'Now that you have pointed that out to me, he is deffinently now called Houston.' I said with a laugh. Hank chuckled and shrugged. 'Alright, who else is coming on your team?' Hank asked. 'Scout and Nugget. I don't think I will need any of the others on this trip. I plan on catching a few things while we are there if we have time, so having empty slots will be helpful.' I explained to Hank.

Hank nodded in agreement. 'I'm bringing Snuggles and Tilly, I need to work with both of them and get them working as a team. Snuggles still keeps trying to eat Tilly. One of the caterpie are close to evolving and I think I should work with my new venonat. The sooner I start teaching the venonat basic geology the better.' Hank said out loud.

'You just reminded me of something.' I said as I went to the window to open it. 'What are you thinking?' Hank asked. 'I am going to teach Scout teleport, while we are in Alola he can practice. I bought a stack of teleport TMs. I'm giving one each to Mandy, Cecilia, your mother and Clyde. I didn't buy one for Janice since she will have Alph with her. The rest of the teleport TMs are ours, we should have three between both of us.' I said to Hank.

I tried my best to open my mind to call Scout to the window. I took Scout's ball off the bed and held it. 'So you have three teleport TMs, one is for Scout. Who are the other two for?' Hank asked me. He knew that I would have some kind of plan in mind.

'I was thinking Glitz and the Chansey but they both need more work before that decision is made. I also wanted you to have the chance to use one of them on your venonat after it evolves.' I said to Hank over my shoulder.

'Moth?' Scout asked in his musical voice as he landed on the window sill to look in the window. 'Scout return, I have a present for you.' I said to him with a smile. Scout returned to his ball in a blink of red light. 'You seem very attached to Scout and Triffid for having only caught them yesterday.' Hank said to me in a matter-of-fact tone.

I turned to face Hank. 'I actually caught them at the same time. Scout and Triffid have an unusual relationship.' I said to Hank as I started to dig through my bag. I found a stack of TMs in my bag and took them out. At the store I had written everyone's names on them. I separated mine and Hank's from the stack before setting the others to the side.

'What do you mean by an unusual relationship?' Hank asked me as I took out a TM disc and put it over the button of Scout's ball. I looked up at Hank waiting for the moment to activate the TM to teach teleport to Scout.

Hank stood in a relaxed stance with his arms over his chest while he looked at me. His new outfit didn't leave much to the imagination as far as his torso was concerned. His top was a black shock proof t-shirt made out of something similar to kevlar. It hugged his frame like an outer layer of skin. Around his hips were three sets of belts. Two sets of poke ball belts and a utility belt similar to a belt that the army use for their basics. Hank wore heavy duty cargo pants and equally heavy duty hiking boots with new deep tread on them. On his hands were leather black fingerless gloves. With his physical frame and hairstyle he looked the part of a soldier. He had a special forced kind of vibe happening right now.

Focus Milo, you can check him out and drool over him later. He asked you a question.

Hank quirked his brow at me while he waited for an answer. His bright eyes gave a cheek gleam. He was expecting this story to get interesting quickly. Nothing was ever straight forward for me. Not even my friendship with him.

'Janice and I found a blood splattered baseball cap in the forest of the Danger Zone, in the Safari Zone. We followed the blood trail up a tree and found Triffid about to eat Scout. Scout was perched up on a branch fast asleep. I waited until Triffid grabbed Scout and almost ate him before I threw the ball that caught Scout. Then I threw a ball at Triffid. Scout stayed in the first ball and I let him out to keep the other victreebel at bay while I fought Triffid, right after he broke out of the first ball. Scout was going to be Triffid's meal until I stepped in and stopped him. Scout knows that I saved his life...' I trailed off and looked at Hank.

'Alright, I'm following. Continue.' Hank said while he watched me. 'After I fought Triffid and Scout took on the whole gang of victreebel to stop them attacking me, Scout lead us to the Dratini pond. It is in the most dangerous part of the Safari Zone right at the back of the territory. It's so dangerous that none of the other wild Pokemon go near there. The only Pokemon that were at the dratini pool were the starving goldeen, the dratini we managed to catch and the flock of aerodactyl. But that isn't all we found.' I said to Hank with a smirk.

Hank stepped over to me with a curious expression. 'What did you find?' He asked me. 'Other than a huge fossil bed, the perfect hideout. The dratini pool is surrounded by a deep rocky ravine that is riddled with cavities. Scout knows that whole area so well that once he learns teleport properly we can set up our real shelter next to the hidden dratini pond and use our new house like a shop front.' I said to Hank.

Hank went silent while he considered this. 'I want to see it before I agree to anything, but right now I am leaning towards agreeing to this plan. Any hide out that will give us an edge over surviving something as hellish as a war, I'm in for that. As you also know, I'm also ok with bending rules. Technically no one is allowed to live in the Safari Zone, but if no one ever finds it or finds out then how could we possibly get in trouble?' Hank asked with a cheeky smile. I smiled a little to Hank. 'I think you will like it.' I said to him.

I pressed the button on Scout's safari ball to make it accept the TM. The disc spun on the button before breaking. A positive blip sounded from the safari ball to indicate that the TM had worked. The disc fell to the floor in half and I clipped Scout's ball to my belt.

Someone knocked on the door as Hank bent down to pick up the used and broken disc. 'Come in.' Hank called. Clyde stepped into the room with a small smile. 'Before you both go I have a present for you. It is still only a prototype and there are a few minor bugs but it works. I have been field testing it for months now.' Clyde said as he held up a metal egg cup shaped gadget.

It looked like the PC attachment that Janice used to get Pokemon in and out of her PC storage.

'Is that what I think it is?' I asked him as I looked at the piece in his hand.

On the bottom of the gadged was a small computer key port plug of some kind.

'If you are thinking it is the thing that gets your Pokemon in and out of the PC system then you are correct. This is a travel version of it. It connects to your PokeGear as an extra piece. You can both use your PokeGear like the PC at the Pokemon Centre. You don't have to limit yourselves with who you take where, you can take them all with you all the time.' Clyde said with a smirk.

'Well that solves our head-ache of who to bring with us on the honeymoon. Minus Butane and Odd since we don't want to harm the egg by putting it into a poke ball while it is still developing.' Hank said with a grin.

Hank held his hand out for the gadget. Clyde smirked and placed the gadget into the Hank's hand. 'Milo I'm going to pack up my Pokemon now. Be back in a moment.' Hank said to me over his shoulder. He clapped a hand on Clyde's shoulder before exiting his bedroom.

Once he was gone Clyde looked at me with a smirk. 'I actually have a present for you too Clyde.' I said with a chuckle in response to his smirk. 'Oh? Helix fossils?' Clyde asked me. 'Yeah actually and something else.' I said with a smirk.

I walked over to Hank's bedside table where I had left my leather pouch from the Safari Zone. I took out three helix fossils. I set the pouch back down and then went to the stack of TMs and pulled out the three for him, Mandy and Cecilia. I stepped over to Clyde and held them out for him.

'What are these for?' Clyde asked me curiously. 'Teleport. I thought they could come in handy for you, Cecilia and Mandy. Especially since you will be in Goldenrod. It's a prime bombing target. It would be nice to have an instant way to get out of the damage zone.' I said to Clyde while he took the TMs and fossils from me.

He looked at the TMs and then handed them back to me. 'I won't need them.' He said with a grin. 'What do you mean you won't need them? Too good to be bombed are you Mr Fancy pants?' I asked Him with a frown.

Clyde snorted before laughing. 'No! I can make my own in the lab for a faction of the cost that you paid for these. You keep these, you have enough Pokemon to use them all. I will make more at work to cover myself and my family. Thank you for the offer and the inspiration.' Clyde thanked me. I took the discs back from Clyde with a chuckle.

'I knew you worked at Silph Co but I didn't know if you had access to that area.' I said sheepishly as I put the three extra TMs with my own and Hanks. It seemed now we wouldn't have to be so careful with them.

'That is very considerate of you Doctor Williams. Thank you.' Clyde said with a smirk. I could feel my cheeks burn a little. Hank hadn't started the whole teasing me with the "Mrs Williams" thing yet.

'Good luck teaching the slowpoke to teleport fast enough to save your hide.' I said with a snicker. 'Slowpoke? What slowpoke?' Clyde asked, now suddenly cautious. 'Mandy hasn't told you what she caught in the safari zone?' I asked him.

'We haven't had a chance to talk. What is this about slowpoke?' Clyde asked me with a frown. I couldn't help but laugh now. 'Mandy loves you so much that every breed of Pokemon that she caught in the Safari zone she tried to catch two of them so you could have couples Pokemon. Guess which pokemon we found sleeping in the sun in a great big group where they could easily be caught?' I asked Clyde in a teasing tone.

Clyde's face went blank while he processed my clues. His hands went up into his messy long hair as his eyes went wide. 'She caught TWO slowpoke?' He asked me with a horrified expression. 'Yep, she only registered one of them to her own name so you could have the other one, because she loves you so much.' I said, trying to not laugh.

Clyde looked at me while his eyes twitched in a mix of rage and horror. 'What else did she catch in pairs?' He asked me in a quiet voice. 'Clues only, I'm not telling you directly.' I said with a snicker. 'Yes! Yes! Just tell me!' Clyde pleaded. I was having fun with this.

'Your clues, the brutal pokemon, royalty and forever headaches. There was an odd Pokemon out that she caught by accident. First she was frightened of him but then she decided she loved him, even if he wasn't cute.' I said with a smirk.

'The frightened thing doesn't narrow it down but I can guess the other ones. Why did she need to catch the slowpoke?' Clyde asked in a whimper. I smirked. 'Because they could learn teleport and Mandy wants to get out of the way of giant balls of fire quickly if she can.' I said to him. 'Then she should have caught eggsecute or exeggutor!' Clyde retorted.

'We didn't find any of those and don't you need some kind of psychic abilities to raise them so they aren't total dicks to be around?' I asked Clyde. Clyde glared at me. 'Anything is better than a slowpoke.' He said with a hushed growl in his voice.

'Then you have three days to source some shellder to evolve them into slowbro or slowking. With your amount of money and connections, how hard could it be?' I asked him.

Clyde's eye twitched as he glared at me. 'I can source them but getting them to bite and stay on the slowpoke is the tricky part.' He retorted. I could only shrug. 'You are smart Clyde, you will figure it out. Besides i heard that Slowpoke Tails as very yummy, so getting a pair of slowbro in your ranks should be easy in theory.' I retorted.

Clyde just looked at me with a glare before sighing heavily. 'I shouldn't be upset.' He groaned as he looked at the floor. 'No you shouldn't. Mandy caught that slowpoke just for you because she loves you. The entire time at the safari zone she wouldn't shut up about you actually. Even when we were giving her lessons in catching Pokemon. She asked us if you would like what she caught and she got super excited when she caught two of any of the same breed of pokemon. You didn't leave her thoughts the whole time she was away from you Clyde.' I pointed out to him.

Clyde looked at me with a surprised face before he blushed slightly. He looked over his shoulder at the door. 'I need to give her more credit where credit is due.' He said quietly. 'Damn straight you do. She has insane luck. She caught EVERY SINGLE ONE of her Pokemon in the Safari Zone on the VERY FIRST BALL! More than half of what I caught broke out and used two or more safari balls.' I said to him with a groan.

Clyde smirked at this new piece of information. 'Sounds like I need to go and love-up my wife more, especially since she put so much effort into doing her best to please me.' He smirked while he spoke. 'Yeah Clyde umm… EW! I don't need to know about your successful bedroom endeavours.' I said as i pulled a face.

Clyde snorted before looking at me. He rolled his eyes. 'Oh please! With how Hank talks about you, the pair of you must have been rutting like feverish buneary for years now.' Clyde retorted. I coughed at his remark. 'Clyde! I'm a virgin.' I said while I coughed from the surprise of his remark.

'Tauros Shit you are a virgin! Hank is active.' Clyde snapped at me. 'Nope, its true. Milo hasn't done the dirty. I was plenty active when I was dating other women but I never technically dated Milo. I just realised one day that I couldn't live without her and that I kept returning to her. Took me a few years of planning and fooling around to find the perfect time to pop the question.' Hank said as he re-entered his bedroom with a smirk.


	29. Chapter 29

Black Lightning Chapter 29

Hank smirked as he looked me up and down before throwing me the wedding present that Clyde had given us. Clyde stood there stunned as he looked at me. I caught the PokeGear extension and clipped it onto my PokeGear.

'What? You believe that every teenager got too horny to resist doing the dirty before their twenties?' I asked Clyde with a smirk. Clyde just looked at me confused. 'I find it difficult to understand how you have avoided it.' Clyde said as he frowned.

'Thats easy. I hate people so why would I let them between my legs?' I asked Clyde with a smirk. Hank only snickered. Clyde looked like I had slapped him across the face. He was completely dumbfounded. 'Huh… I guess that makes some sense.' He admitted before shrugging and straightening up.

'Milo go and put all of your Pokemon away. The sooner we go the better. We are losing daylight and Alola is a couple of hours ahead of us. We won't have much time to actually make the hike to our spot if we delay too long.' Hank said with a softer smile.

I nodded to Hank as I clipped Scout's ball onto my belt. 'See you after Clyde. Have fun with the new slowpoke.' I teased in a playful voice. 'Shut up Milo!' Clyde snapped at me before chuckling. Hank laughed as I exited the room to go outside.

I was greeted at the front door by the Zaptor. This should be interesting.

She leaned down close to me and snorted in my face. Her breath was full of hot static. It had a similar feel to the beginning of a lightning storm. 'Zaptor…' She said before turning her head to level one of her eyes with mine.

Her electric purple eye searched mine. Her eye was amazing to watch. Her pupil was so fast and responsive to the slightest shift in light. The colour in the iris of her eye was an ever moving glow of white around the pupil to a dark electric purple around the outside. The gradient in the middle was moving aggressively with every twitch of her eye like lightning bolts.

'I'm going to need some help to understand you. Do you know where Odd is?' I asked the Zaptor.

I didn't feel like playing guessing games with a hunter that was this efficient, even if she did seem to be in a far better mood now than when she was with the Chairman.

'I'm here.' I heard Odd's soft voice in my mind. I smiled a little. 'Odd can you please tell me what Nugget's mother is trying to tell me?' I asked Odd out loud. 'Zzzzzzzzzap. Zaptor.' Zaptor said to me before snorting.

The snort wasn't aggressive, it seemed to be just another part of her vocalisation, like a whistle or a chirp. The anime didn't seem to put as much emphasis on the sounds that Pokemon could make other than them being able to repeat their names over and over. Maybe it was a marketing tactic. Or maybe they just didn't think of it. Hopefully the reason wasn't because they were too lazy to add those details.

'She wants to know if you are leaving with Nugget.' Odd echoed to me. 'Yes I am going away with Nugget. We will be back here again tomorrow evening.' I said to the Zaptor with a calm tone.

I could hear the clicking of claws on the decking behind me. I turned around to see Nugget walking over. He stopped and looked up at me. His bright electric blue eyes locked on mine. 'Stator?' Nugget asked me. I didn't think I needed a translation for that one.

'They want to know if Zaptor can go with you.' Odd echoed to me. I looked between the two of them before looking up at the Zaptor. 'You can but it means that I will need to carry you in a poke ball for a while. You won't be wild any more, at least not until we get back here again. You will have to listen to me and do as I say.' I said to her.

She gave a slight growl but lowered her head. 'Tor.' She said in an agreeable tone. 'What is your name?' I asked her. Zaptor lifted her head and gave a cough like sound. 'She says her name is Hah.' Odd echoed to me. 'Hah. Short, strong name. I like it. Well Hah, let me go and get you a ball and we can get going sooner.' I said to her with a smile.

'Zap.' Hah responded. 'Tor!' Nugget said excitedly. He ran past me to nuzzle into his mother's legs. Hah was preoccupied with her hatchling for the moment as I walked around them to Hank's open window.

I leant against the window sill and looked in at Hank and Clyde. Hank was finishing packing things into his bag. Clyde was leaning against the door frame asking if Hank had remembered various odd bits and pieces.

'Hank can you please throw me an empty ball?' I asked him with a smile. Hank looked up from his packing with a frown. 'An empty ball?' He asked a little confused.

'Yeah, Nugget's Ma wants to come with us. I think she just wants to be with Nugget for now but I'm not about to argue with her over it when she is in such a good mood.' I said with a smile. Hank grinned at the news. 'That's great! We can learn so much with parent and offspring together.' Hank said as he started to dig into one of the pockets in his bag. 'You are meant to be the geologist in this team.' I said in a joking tone with a laugh.

Hank pulled out a quick ball and tossed it over to me with a smirk. 'That doesn't mean I don't take interest in your line of work.' Hank retorted. I caught it with a grin. 'Thank you. I should be ready to go in a couple of minutes.' I said. I looked down on the bed under the window, all of my various poke balls were all lined up on Hank's bed. I picked up all of them, clipping them onto my belts before stepping back from the window. 'Hah?' I called to her as I walked back over to Hah and Nugget.

I held the quick ball up to Hah on my open hand. 'Here, the sooner you are in and we go the sooner you get to come out to explore and hunt again.' I said to her with a smile. Hah looked at me and then the quick ball. She hesitated a moment. I could only imagine how traumatic her first catching into a ball could have been in the museum laboratory. Hah looked at me with a growl as her crest slowly stood up.

'I'm not going to force you in, all you need to do is touch the button. I promise it won't hurt. I'm not the Chairman and I'm not Lee.' I said to her softly while she growled at me. She looked a little scared. 'Stator! To-tor-to-tor-tor!' Nugget chirped up to Hah. I wasn't sure what he said but she looked down at him before reaching across to touch her nose to the button on the front of the quick ball.

Hah turned into a flash of red light and was pulled into the quick ball.

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

Five!

Six!

Seven!

Eight!

Click!

She must have still been a little indecisive about getting caught again. I clicked Hah to my belt before returning Nugget. I took the magikarp and horsea off my belt and stored them both in my PokeGear while I walked and looked for the rest of my pokemon.

'Triffid! Cheyenne! Glitz?' I called out those three. Before I could call any more of them Cheyenne buzzed into my field of sight and Triffid answered me with a 'bel!' I looked up to Cheyenne.

'Where are the aerodactyl?' I asked her. They could have flown off anywhere unsupervised. Cheyenne hovered in a circle before pointing in the direction of the trees. I sighed and shook my head. 'I don't have time for this. Girls come out here. If you are fast I promise you a hunt tomorrow morning.' I called out to the forest.

One of my aerodactyl flew out of the trees to me. The submissive one that almost attacked Janice. I returned her before she could change her mind and fly out of range again. I stored her in my PokeGear rather than clipping her to my belt.

I sighed heavily. 'Triffid return. If I need you I will bring you out. Cheyenne go and find my tauros and bring him here. If you see Glitz get her here too.' I said to her as I rolled the sleeves up on my overcoat. Triffid returned himself with no more prompting from me. I stalked to the tree line.

'Come out of there. If I have to come looking for you, you will have to fight me again. Now come out!' I called her again. 'Tyl!' A voice snapped at me. I felt the air pressure shift and a shadow covered me. I looked up. She was dropping down at me from above with maw wide open. I raised her safari ball up and returned her before she could make contact.

I turned around to face the house before releasing her again. She dived face first into the dirt in front of me. She hit the ground with a hard thump. I heard the wind get knocked out of her. The impact had made her give a single hard cough. I didn't hear any broken bones, that was good.

I kicked her as hard as I could to roll her onto her back while she was winded. She looked up at me with swirling eyes. I leant over her and grabbed her by the nose pinching my nails into the soft flesh of her nostrils.

The pain of me pinching into her nose made her snort. The snort covered my fingers in snot but it didn't make me let go. She tried to flap her wings as she struggled to get away. I put a foot on her throat to keep her pinned there for now. 'Do I have your attention now? GOOD!' I snapped at her. She stopped for a moment to growl up at me.

'If you dare try that on me again I will stick you in the PC for a week!' I snapped at her. I gave her nose a tug. The tug made her yelp. 'Understood?' I asked her before letting go of her nose and stepping back from her.

I allowed her to roll over and get up to her feet and claws. While she got up I pulled a rag from my pocket and wiped my fingers clean.

She looked at me with rage in her eyes and a growl once she was right way up again. 'I'm glad you understand. If you behave you will be rewarded. If you keep trying to attack me you will be punished. It's simple. Now return and think about what just happened. Your attack failed. Why? Figure it out. I need you to be a battle hardened warrior, more than you are now. Now return.' I ordered her before bringing her back into her ball.

I was aware that I just gave her a dangerous challenge. To figure out how to kill me more effectively. Right now though, I don't have any other tactic that I can think of that will get her to listen to me. At least one of my aerodactyl listened to me, even if it was reluctantly. I would have to remember to reward her later. If I could get her to like me, at least it would make things much easier for all of us.

My dominant aerodactyl turned into a zap of red light and went back into her safari ball. I put the angry aerodactyl's ball into the PC in my PokeGear.

I looked up to see that my tauros and Cheyenne were looking at me with an unreadable set in their body language.

'Cheyenne did you find Glitz?' I asked her. Cheyenne gave a nod and hovered over to Mrs Williams' car. I could see a thick pink tail poking out from behind the wheel on the other side. 'Thank you Cheyenne, you may return now.' I said to her with a smile.

Cheyenne flew back to me and returned to her ball on my belt.

I walked up to my Tauros with a smile. 'I have a name for you. I am going to call you Houston.' I said to him. 'Taur!' He said happily before he shorted and pawed at the ground. His three tails were whipping in all random directions. I think that meant his tails were wagging, but they were so random it was hard to tell. 'Houston time to return for now. I will need your help again later.' I said to him with a smile. Houston turned into a flash of red light and returned.

I sighed and walked over to where Glitz was. 'Low, slow, low, slow…' She was talking to herself. When I turned the corner of the car and looked down, I found her on her back. She was looking ahead of herself and her legs were moving as though she was walking. The only problem was she was upside down. She wasn't getting anywhere like that. I chuckled at the sight. She must have been so caught up in her mind of psychic visions that she didn't notice she wasn't right way up.

'Glitz…' I said to her. I walked around to her side. 'Slow?' She asked before looking at me. Good, my voice was enough to pull her out of her own head this time. 'You are upside down sweetness. Your feet need to be on the ground if you want to walk.' I pointed out to her. 'Poke!' Glitz responded before she slowly smiled at me. Her tail also began to wag slowly.

I couldn't help but laugh at her. 'Alright funny stuff, time to return we have another adventure ahead of us.' I said to her. 'Poke slow.' She responded as she blinked. She looked at me cross eyed before returning to her safari ball. I snickered quietly.

I could understand why so many found slowpoke frustrating. If you are in a hurry and they are trapped in their own little world it can be a drag. On the other hand Slowpoke as a species seemed to be very forgiving, or they just didn't have the mental capacity to hold a grudge. I couldn't be sure. I didn't really care. Glitz made me smile and she gave me some comic relief. I was going to sneak her extra treats tonight just for that. Glitz was also my most gentle pokemon. I appreciated a bit of that on my team.

I walked back to Hank's window and leant in again. 'Ok I got every one. We are ready to go.' I said with a smile. Hank handed me my bag with a grin as he leant across to me. 'Good. I want alone time with you again. I miss our expeditions.' He said with a smirk before giving me a peck on the cheek.

I took my bag and leant back out of the window. I slung it onto my shoulders and stepped back. Hank climbed out of his window with a smirk. 'Who needs doors ey?' I asked him with a laugh. 'I don't.' Hank retorted with a laugh.

'Now we just need Alph and Kyuubi.' I said as I looked around.

As if I had summoned them from the underworld Alph and Kyuubi teleported before us. 'Ready?' Alph asked us out loud. Hank's hand found mine. 'Ready.' He said as he squeezed my hand.

Alph teleported us.

We were suddenly standing on a paved street in a side alley. Hank smirked and squeezed my hand as Alph teleported away. 'Welcome to Akala island. Right now we are at the "doorway" of Alola, Heahea City. We are going to need to find the tourism bureau to get a map so I can get us to our spot. We will also need to go past the local megamart to pick up a few other little supplies.' Hank said to me with a smile.

'You know what I'm like in cities, you lead and I will follow. Hopefully you are easier to shop with than Mandy and your mother.' I said with a slight frown. Hank only laughed. 'Come on.' He gave me a gentle tug and started to walk.

Hank took us to a large building full of tourists with brightly coloured clothing, cameras and all sorts of mixed accents. He pulled me over to a side wall with less people standing around. Kyuubi stopped beside me. 'Stay here, I will go and get a map.' Hank said to me. 'Not moving, waiting here.' I agreed with him.

Hank smirked and then vanished into the throng of people. I looked down at Kyuubi at my side. I sighed and ran my fingers into the fur behind his ears. Kyuubi panted and leant into me happily. His fur was always hot and plush soft. If I was blind and only knew him by touch I wouldn't think him to be so dangerous. I kept running my fingers through Kyuubi's fur while I waited for Hank.

Soon Hank was back with a map. He opened it up and held it up between both of us. I took one side of the map instinctively as Hank started to point on the map. 'Ok so we are right here. Where we are going for the night is here, on the other side of the island, behind the volcano. The easiest and fastest way is the long way. We will need to go up route six, through Paniola town and its Ranch, up route five, through lush forest and then around the peak of the volcano and down the other side.' Hank said as he pointed out our trail. I smirked a little.

'Only a short stroll. Good thing it's not a hard hike or anything like that.' I said with a sarcastic tone and a roll of my eyes. I could clearly see in the map that once we got to the volcano it was going to be a hard trek. Those slopes looked steep and there were no marked paths there. Good thing I was used to such ground on a regular basis. I couldn't say the same for Houston though. He was only going to get us so far this time.

'It's nothing that you can't handle so stop complaining. There is a Mega Mart up the street we can get extra water and provisions there. We can also get extra poke balls. If I see a mudbray or anything else that is useful in this tough terrain I'm catching it.' Hank said to me. 'No arguments there. Houston was ok on rough ground in the Safari Zone but this looks like something that he hasn't had the chance to adjust to yet.' I agreed with Hank.

I let go of my side of the map so Hank could fold it up and slip it into the top thigh pocket of his cargo pants. He held his hand out for me again with a smile. 'Come on. Lets get that pesky shopping out of the way so we can enjoy ourselves.' Hank said with a cheeky grin. I rolled my eyes at him but couldn't stop the smile that found my lips. I put my hand in his. 'Let's get going.' I agreed.

Hank lead us to the Mega Mart. He grabbed a basket on the way in. This place was also full of tourists. Most of them were looking at trinkets and souvenirs.

Hank lead me past them to where the supplies were. There were a couple of locals also shopping here. Hank let go of my hand and then handed me the basket. 'Milo if you grab some extra Poke food and some snacks for us I can get the crate of water. If there anything else that you can think of that we might need?' Hank asked me before he could go.

'Burn heals, if they have any halters and reins, getting one for houston might be a good idea. Also accessories like grooming brushes. One for poison types and one for electric types. The hygiene of our Pokemon is important to their health. Extra potions and maybe some antidotes might be a good idea too.' I said to him.

Hank nodded. 'We can collect all of the potions and healing items at the service desk where they keep all of the poke balls locked away. The isles should be organised by element type in the Pokemon section if you want to grab food and then head there I can meet you there.' Hank said with a grin.

'Hank before you run away to get the water, shouldn't we also get food in general?' I asked him. Hank laughed and shook his head. 'No need. Ma forced me to pack the leftovers from the wedding to eat. We have enough food for longer than we will be here.' Hank said. I shrugged. 'Ok snacks only for us.' I smiled.

Hank turned and left me with Kyuubi. I looked down at him before looking around. We were at the end of a food isle. It looked like it was all Pokefood. I went through and grabbed a few different types of food. I was aware that didn't species had different dietary requirements. I was hopeful that what I got had covered everyone's needs.

At the opposite end of the food were the bags of treats. I recognised one of them right away. It was a packet of ten jerky strips. Someone had given one to Nugget and Cheyenne when I went dress shopping. They both loved them. I grabbed two packets.

I looked down to Kyuubi. 'Which ones to you like?' I asked him. Kyuubi walked up to a packet that was hanging down low. He grabbed it off the shelf with his mouth and then put it in the basket. The treats looked like a bag of little meatballs. The packet read "Extra chewy! Extra Salty! Extra Yummy!"

'I should probably get some treats that are bigger for the aerodactyl and something that aquatic pokemon would like.' I said to myself. Kyuubi grabbed a four pack of something that looked like dried pigs ears and put it into my basket. I would have to trust his judgement. I searched the shelf until I found something that I thought horsea and magikarp would like.

On the top hook was a packet that read "Water types, bag of mixed flavours." In the window of the packet I could see an assortment of different shaped and sized coloured treats. Around the clear window was a chart of the different flavours of each shape and colour. I reached up and grabbed one before dropping it into the basket.

I looked at Kyuubi with a smile. 'Shall we go and get the accessories now?' I asked him. Kyuubi smiled up at me, his tails were wagging. 'That would be wonderful my pet. Could we get a fire type brush too? I have not had anyone groom my fur in a while.' He answered in my head. I was going to have to get used to his voice. Something told me that I wouldn't though.

Kyuubi took the lead. I followed him to another food isle. 'You forgot Hank's snacks didn't you?' Kyuubi asked me in an amused tone in my head. 'No! … yes… Yes I did…' I said with a sigh. 'Nine nine nine nine.' Kyuubi laughed. 'I'm glad you find me amusing.' I said to him as I started to walk along the isle.

'Ok. I know what he likes where I am from, but I have no idea of what he likes from here.' I said as I frowned. 'I know what he likes, if he still likes the same things he did as a boy.' Kyuubi assured me. He confidently strode up to a shelf before standing up on his hind legs to reach something at the top. He bumped a packet down with his nose before picking it up and carrying it back to me. He dropped it into the basket.

'Is there anything else that he likes?' I asked Kyuubi. 'Nope, not unless you want to buy more of those.' Kyuubi answered in my head. I walked up to the packet that Kyuubi had gotten and grabbed another one. Then I looked around for something for me. I chose a bag of mixed sweets and a bag that read "cheese flavoured snacks." That was snacks out of the way.

'Alright Kyuubi which way to the pokemon items section?' I asked him out loud. Kyuubi seemed to smirk at me and he started to walk back the way we came into the isle. Toward the back of the store. I followed him.

Kyuubi lead me to the back section. It was set up like a medium to large pet store. Each elemental type had their own isle, just like Hank had said it would be. Kyuubi wandered over to the fire section. I went to the poison section.

I found a brush that was suitable for use on a venonat and put it into the basket. I walked to the end of the isle to look for the electric section. Kyuubi met me at the end of the isle and dropped a red handled brush in the basket. He sounded like he was purring.

I found the isle for the electric types and wandered down it. I found a brush that I thought would be ok to use on Nugget and put it into the basket. My thoughts were then interrupted by something. 'Pup! Pup pup pup!' Someone was barking at me?

I followed the sound to a pen that was holding four lillipup. They were all standing on their hind legs with their paws up on the bars of the pen looking at me curiously. As I walked closer their tails all wagged and they started to bark excitedly again. If I wasn't in the Pokemon world i would have thought they were a pen of oversized yorkshire terrier puppies barking at me.

Next to the lillipup pen was another pen. This one had two other puppy pokemon. They were barking too. I could make out that they had "Ruff" in their name. They must have been rockruff, and they were equally happy to see me.

Above both pens read a sign "These Pokemon were bred to be companion Pokemon. All of them are screened to have neutral natures and below average IVs. Sale of these Pokemon can be refused to trainers who plan to use them for battle. Our breeders have taken great care to create a friendly and happy Pokemon ideal for growing young families and the elderly." I looked around. There were more of these signs everywhere.

From where I was standing, I could see they had a line of aquariums with various water types, a reptile section with male salandit, and an avery section that was divided up with some odd flying types with one of the few sections housing some feline looking pokemon. They also had another large aquarium set up with some bug types and small grass types in there. It looked like they had a good range for all kinds of people.

'Did you find any halters for Houston yet?' Hank asked from behind me. His appearance set off the puppies in another wave of excited barking. I turned to face him. 'Not yet. I didn't realise they had shops like this here.' I said to him. 'Pet store like shops where they sell companion pokemon? There are a few of them around. There is only one here for the tourists that want an Alolan Pokemon or something else that they can't get in their region. Mostly collectors buy from places like this too.' Hank said with a shrug before he smirked.

I noticed the smirk and looked at him cautiously. 'What else did you find?' I asked him. 'They have a fossil section here. You can pay for the fee here too to get them revived at the place on Route eight. We can do that tomorrow morning before we leave if you like.' Hank said with a smirk.

'You are expecting me to buy one of each type of fossil aren't you?' I asked him. Hank laughed. 'You know you could keep a dome and a helix fossil for yourself and trade in the rest. This place might do a trade in if you can provide them with more stock.' Hank said with a laugh.

'Show me where!' I said with a grin. 'No need!' Hand said as he held his hand up. He had grabbed a few packets. All different fossils. They were individually wrapped and stapled into their own bags on a cardboard tab with a hole in the top. They must have been hanging on the shelf. Printed on the cardboard tab was a picture of the Pokemon that the fossil belonged to.

I held the basket up to his hand for him to put the fossils in. 'You know me so well.' I said with a smile. Hank gently put the fossils in the basket. 'You are an Archeologist Milo. You can be an even better one if you have every fossil type Pokemon to study first hand. I'm sure that if we were in a gem shop and you found some stones that I didn't have, you would be all over getting them for me in return.' Hank said with a laugh. 'That is true. Thank you.' I said with a smile. 'Anything for my wife.' Hank teased.

I chuckled to try and keep a blush from my cheeks. I would have a better look at the fossils that Hank had grabbed later. There seemed to only be four packets in the basket. They must have been out of stock on some of them. Or the others were too rare and expensive to stock in the store. I couldn't be sure. I didn't know enough about pokemon fossils yet to be certain but I was happy with what I had.

'Let's find that halter for Houston.' Hank said as he held his empty hand out for me. In his other hand he was carrying a crate of twenty four water bottles like they were nothing. Hank led me to a section for Pokemon that could be ridden. As luck would have it, they had a small section for Tauros riding gear.

They had assorted tack, special brushes, and all kinds of tools to look after the cloven hooves on the tauros and other general health items. 'They have brown leather sets of reigns left. But they don't have any matching halters.' Hank said as he reached up and grabbed a set of reigns. The Halters were mixed colours, they had five left. A black and white stripe. Purple with pink heart pattern. Red leather, creamy leather and a rainbow rope halter.

I grabbed the creamy leather halter. I didn't think that red would be Houston's colour and the cream might look smart on his brown fur. I put the halter in the basket and then grabbed a brush for him. Houston had never been groomed before, so this would be interesting.

Hank grabbed another two sets of rope from the Mudbray section and put them with the reigns into the basket. We weren't going to bother with a saddle today. Hank and I were both fine riding bareback.

'Let's get those extra pokeballs and health items then we are done.' Hank said with a grin. I nodded and followed him. Hank didn't lead me to the front checkout. Instead we went to the back wall of the store. To the checkout that was set up like a Poke Mart rather than a grocery store.

'Alola friends! How can I help you?' The happy clerk behind the counter greeted us. 'Twenty poke balls, ten burn heals, ten antidotes, ten potions and ten revives please.' Hank said as he put the crate of water bottles on the counter. I put the basket up on the counter next to the water bottle crate. 'Right away sir!' The Clerk responded.

The items must have come from the factory in shrink wrapped parcels of ten. An unopened crate of burn heals, potions and antidotes were placed on the counter. The revives came in a shrink lock bag of fifty that the Clerk cut open to count out ten on the counter in front of us. Then he went into a locked vault behind himself. He put his key in and opened it up. He took out two crates of red poke balls in shrinkwrap. Both crates of ten balls had a white and red premier ball taped down on top of them.

'Was that all?' the Clerk asked. 'And the items in the basket too please.' I responded with a smile. The Clerk nodded and started to scan everything. When we got to the fossils we paid the fee for them to get revived on route eight. Once we had completed our purchase Hank took his bag off to start packing his share of the load into his bag.

'There is one other thing I would like to ask.' I said to the Clerk while Hank was packing. 'How can I help?' He asked me with a professional smile. I have some fossils that I would like to sell, would the store be interested in buying?' I asked him. His eyes lit up for a moment. 'What have you got?' He asked me.

I took out my leather pouch from the safari zone and tipped it onto the counter. I picked two helix and two dome fossils to keep for myself before lining up the others for him to count. 'I would like to trade these ones in please.' I said to him.

He counted them up. 'Three dome fossils. Very nice we are running low on them, and eleven helix fossils. That is excellent! We were sold out of helix fossils.' He said as he looked at me with a smile. 'Give me a fair price on them all and they are yours.' I said with a grin.

'You aren't going to haggle my price up?' He asked me. I only shrugged. 'I found these myself. I'm an archeologist and I know where to get more. Right now I would just like to get a bit of money back and lighten my load.' I responded.

The clerk leant forward on the counter as he looked at me. 'Could you be our direct supplier in the future? We always find it difficult to acquire Kanto fossils and our merchant likes to charge us top dollar. We don't make much of a margin on Kanto fossils after all the fees we have to pay the supplier. If we bought them direct from you we could cut out all those fees without paying you less than we pay them. As long as you keep providing Kanto fossils when we need them we will keep paying you.' The Clerk said.

'Are you authorised to make that call?' I asked him. 'The Clerk chuckled and nodded. 'I'm the owner of the store. This might be a large Mega Mart for such a small island with a small population, but we get so many tourists in the busy season. We almost sellout of everything when it is busy.' He said to me.

'Alright, shall we exchange numbers then? I can probably organise to make my deliveries over the PC system too if that helps you. Less postage fees.' I said to him as I took out my PokeGear. The Clerk smiled and then his jaw dropped when he saw the PokeGear. 'Wow you must be good if you have a PokeGear like that!' He said astonished.

'She is one of the best.' Hank boasted. 'Hush Hank, you will make my head too big.' I scolded him. Hank snickered. I placed my PokeGear on the counter facing the Mega Mart owner. 'Put your details in and prank call yourself.' I said to him.

'My name is Niles by the way. Niles Kahoola.' He introduced himself as he typed into my PokeGear. 'Doctor Milo Smith… Williams! Sorry. Milo Williams. I only just got married today. I'm going to have to get used to the name change.' I said with a nervous laugh. Niles called himself through my PokeGear and handed it back to me.

He picked up his own ringing PokeGear and accepted the call before hanging up. He then looked at the registered details in his own gear.

'Doctor Milo Smith… I don't know why I haven't heard of you. You are very successful. At least that is what the public information says about you.' He said before he looked up at me. 'Sorry Doctor Williams now. Congratulations. The paperwork must still be going through the global registry. It hasn't updated your name yet.' He said to me with a smile.

'Is there a fast way that you know of to get to Lush Forest? We are spending our first night together in that area.' Hank asked. The Clerk thought a moment. 'No but there is a road that leads to Brooklet Hill which is next to Lush Forest. You could hire a taxi to take you there. It's only a twenty minute drive that way.' Niles offered us.

I took this as my chance to take my bag off my back and pack the rest of our purchase. Hank and Nile's talked about the wedding, the stator discovery and a few other things while I packed. I put everything in my bag except for the halter and reins.

'Niles is it ok if I bring my tauros out to fit these on him here instead of trying to get him fitted out there? I just want to make sure it fits comfortably for him.' I asked. 'Of course! Where did you get him?' Niles Asked. Hank answered for me. 'She caught him last night at her hens night in the Kanto Safari Zone.' Hank said. 'Only if he behaves himself. I am a little weary of newly caught Pokemon that haven't been trained properly to behave themselves.' Niles said with a frown. 'He is a good boy, he won't ruin anything.' I assured Niles as I took Houston's ball off my belt.

I released Houston with a smile. He came out in a blink of red light and looked around. 'Houston.' I called him to get his attention. He looked at me with a 'Taur?' I chuckled a little. 'I got something for you. Hold still for me please.' I said as I picked up the halter.

Houston stood very still for me while I slipped the halter onto his head and then adjusted the straps so it was a snug fit. 'Is that too tight?' I asked him. Houston shook his head. I had adjusted it correctly. I then clipped the reins on to the halter and tied them together before slipping them over his head. 'Thank you Houston. Please return again for now. I will need your help again later.' I said to him. Houston bumped me affectionately with his nose before returning himself to his ball.

'He looked good in that.' Hank said with a grin. 'I agree. I'm just glad he was ok with it. I don't think he realises he is a huge strong pokemon.' I said with a chuckle. Hank snickered. 'Do you know any good taxi drivers that can get us to Brooklet Hill?' Hank asked Niles. Niles looked impressed by how well behaved Houston had been.

'I have just the man for the job! Let me send a message.' Niles said as he started tapping into his Gear. A blip sounded from Nile's gear. He read it with a smile. 'He will be out the front of the store in five minutes. His name is Tutti. He has a green taxi with a big pink flower painted on the side.' Niles said with a smile.

I put my bag back on my back. 'We don't have a pokeball for our ninetales. Will Tutti allow him to sit in the car as he is?' Hank asked Niles. Niles looked over the counter at Kyuubi curiously. 'You have no poke ball for him?' Niles asked.

'He was my father's pokemon. My Dad died in the last major war between Kanto-Johto and Kalos. When they found his body he had been looted. Ninetales had managed to get away without the looter realising the pokemon was out of the pokeball. He was returned to the family with no ball. We didn't put him in another ball out of respect for his service as a veteran.' Hank explained to Niles.

Nile smiled a little and reached under the counter. He pulled out a single meaty treat stick and held it over the counter for Kyuubi. 'For your service. I'm sure Tutti won't mind if you sit in his taxi, he is an understanding man.' Niles said to Kyuubi. Kyuubi took the treat and held it in his mouth.

'I wait to hear from you next time you need fossils Niles. I think it's time we went, we are losing daylight and still need to set up camp.' I said with an apologetic smile. 'I look forward to it Doctor Williams. Enjoy your stay in Alola.' He said with a smile. 'Bye,' Hank said as he took my hand and lead me out of the store again.

We made our way through the isles and the crowd of trinket shopping tourists. We exited out the front door and waited at the front of the store. Kyuubi stood next to me, still holding the treat in his mouth. I don't think he liked the treat. He must have only taken it to be polite.

'I'm not a savage my pet. I will eat this when we get to Brooklet Hill. It tastes as good as you do by the way.' Kyuubi echoed to me in my mind while he looked away from me. He was showing the appearance of ignoring me but he seemed to be very intune with my thoughts. 'I am your familiar now. I am always going to be monitoring your well being my pet.' Kyuubi echoed to me in my mind again. I sent him a mental shrug. I was rewarded with a deep chuckle echoing around in my skull.

We waited for the taxi to get here.


	30. Chapter 30

Black Lightning Chapter 30

The green taxi with the pink flower painted on the side pulled up to the curb. Tutti accepted that we couldn't call Kyuubi into a pokeball for the ride and took us to Brooklet Hill with no dramas. We paid the fee for the ride and got out of the taxi.

Hank and I put our bags on our backs while we watched the taxi drive away. Kyuubi started to chew on the treat in his mouth with obvious pleasure. I couldn't help but smile a little at his enjoyment of something as simple as food.

I looked around. To the west, past the knee deep grass was a large body of water. I could hear waterfalls and there was mist at the end of the pool of water where it vanished over a drop. To the east I could see the looming volcano. In the distance between us and the volcano I could see the treeline for Lush forest. We had a lot of ground to cover before sunset. I looked up at the sky for the position of the sun. It looked like we had at least four hours of light left.

We needed to go.

'Houston come out.' I called him without touching the ball on my belt. Houston came out in a flash of red light. 'Hah, Nugget, Scout, Cheyenne, you too.' I called the others. 'Come out Snuggles.' Hank called. All of the summoned Pokemon came out of their respective balls in a miniature fire-works display of red light. Amazingly none of them materialized on top of any of the others.

'Scout, Cheyenne I want you two to fly ahead and find a safe trail. We need to get to the other side of the volcano before night fall. Scout if you want you can practice your new move. Teleport. Cheyenne don't fly too low or so fast that you get attacked where we won't be able to catch up to help.' I said to the two flying bugs. 'Yan!' 'Moth!' They both responded before flying away towards the volcano.

Nugget and Snuggles wandered around us and looked around in the long grass. They had their heads low and tails up, trailing their noses along the ground. They looked like they could smell something.

'Milo I just had an idea.' Hank said to me. I looked across to him. He was looking at Hah. Hah was watching Nugget stalk into the grass without her. 'What are you thinking?' I asked Hank. 'Well if Hah is ok with you, what if you ride her? That way Houston can run faster with just me on his back.' Hank expressed his idea.

Hah snapped her head in his direction and stalked up to Hank. 'Zap zap to-tor!' She said to him in an indignant tone. Hank stood his ground and crossed his arms over his chest. 'Ninetales!' Kyuubi snapped at Hah to warn her.

Hah looked back to Kyuubi with a hiss. Snuggles had noticed the threat towards Hank and she ran back to stand in front of Hank. Snuggles stood between Hah and Hank with a little warning hiss. Snuggles stood tall to try and show herself to be much bigger. It was almost cute. Snuggles was a few inches shy of being three foot tall, compared to the seven foot Hah she looked tiny.

'Hah you don't have to give me a ride if you don't want to. It was only a suggestion. It would make our trip faster but it is entirely your choice. I let you come so you could spend quality time with your son.' I said to her. Hah relaxed a little at my words as she looked across to me.

'Speaking of Nugget, where is he?' Hank asked. I looked to where I had last seen Nugget. He was gone. He had vanished into the grass. 'He must be hunting. I don't see him though.' I said as I tried to look for him. I started to walk to the long grass but Hah stepped in front of me. 'Zaptor…' She warned me.

I sighed. 'I wasn't going to stop him, I just want to know that he is ok.' I said to her. Hah gave a snort and looked to the grass. She stood up tall, she was also looked for Nugget, but she didn't move. She must not have wanted to ruin his hunt.

We didn't need to wait long, a spark of electricity shot up from a patch of grass alarmingly close to us. 'Nugget are you ok?' I asked. 'Stator!' He responded in a cheerful tone. The grass rustled and Nugget came back to me. When he came through the grass I was surprised by what I saw.

Nugget was carrying a bug type pokemon with a helmet around its head of water. I took out my PokeGear and scanned the pokemon. 'Dewpider the water bubble pokemon. Evolves into Araquanid.' The Gear said. 'Show me the base stats for araquanid.' I said to the Gear. The screen for Araquanid's base stats popped up. I could feel my jaw drop at what I read.

A seven foot tall water spider! 'Damn…' I said while I read through the data before looking up at Nugget. Nugget had put the paralyzed dewpider at my feet. He looked up at me expectantly with his tail wagging. 'You want me to make them a new friend?' I asked him. 'Tor!' Nugget said happily as he spun in a tight circle before looking up at me.

'Z-ZAPTOR!' Hah seemed to tell him off. Nugget looked at his mother confused before he looked at me and then back to his mother. 'Stat-stat-stator!' He said back to her. Zaptor growled down to him.

I took my bag off my back and opened it up. I took out the first empty ball that I could grab. A friend ball. I shrugged and held it up over the dewpider. 'Nugget are you sure you want this to be our friend and not you next meal?' I asked him. 'Stator!' Nugget answered me in a positive tone. Hah growled at him.

I smirked and dropped the ball on the paralysed dewpider. The ball hit the helpless Pokemon and turned them into a flash of red light. The ball hit the ground with a light thud as it snapped shut.

One!

Hah snarled at me. She looked confused as to why Nugget wasn't eating his prey and letting me capture it.

Two!

'Hah this is how Nugget caught Cheyenne. She is part of the team now.' I said to her.

Three!

Hah just looked confused. I reached out and softly stroked my hand along the side of her maw in an attempt to calm her down. She was twitchy and angry when she was confused by something.

Four!

Hah actually let me pat her, she didn't move.

Click!

Nugget gave a happy chirp when the ball clicked its confirmation of a positive catch. I stopped petting Hah and picked up the ball. I took the PokeGear extension off my utility belt and put the new Dewpider into the PC for now. I quickly registered is to my name and then put the PokeGear to sleep, removing the extension again. It looked like my new dewpider was female.

If this kept happening I would have to suspect Nugget of being a little casanova. Nugget seemed to like being around the female Pokemon much more than the males. If this trend kept up he would collect quite a little harem for himself. A bug type harem. Strange little raptor.

Hank climbed up onto Houston's back and looked at me. 'So are you riding Hah or are you running behind Houston?' Hank asked me with a smirk. I looked up at Hah. 'Can I please ride you? We are running out of time.' I asked Hah. Hah looked at Houston. Houston gave her a snort and then looked to the volcano. Houston looked ready to go. He must have liked the idea of another adventure.

Hah listened to Houston for a while before she looked at me and lowered herself. The static in her downy feathers died down. I quickly put my bag back on and climbed up onto her back. I settled into a position that was comfortable for both of us.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Kyuubi had started to walk in a different direction. 'Kyuubi where are you going?' I asked him. Kyuubi looked at me over his shoulder but kept walking. 'Milo he has a mission remember?' Hank reminded me. 'Oh yeah. See you when you are done Kyuubi!' I said to him with a wave. Kyuubi gave a parting Yip before running away. He headed due north from our current position.

'Ready to go now?' Hank asked. 'Ready!' I answered. Hank dug his heels into Houston's sides and leant forward. Houston was confused for a second before he started to run to the volcano. Hah turned to face the right way before running along side Houston. Nugget and Snuggles also ran, easily keeping up.

Before we could reach the Lush forest a barking sounded behind us. I looked back while Hah ran. A lillipup had run out of the long grass to chase after Houston. He was growling and barking as he chased at Houston's heels, snapping at them like a dog chasing a car. I rolled my eyes and looked across to Hank. Houston mustn't have realised that he was about to have his heels bitten. 'Hank want a lillipup?' I asked him while the pokemon ran.

Snuggles and Nugget noticed the lillipup but waited instruction. 'You are offering it to me?' Hank asked. 'I caught the last Pokemon, and that puppy is about to catch Houston and give his heels a nasty surprise.' I said to Hank. Hank frowned but nodded.

'Snuggle's flank and tumble surprise.' Hank said to her. Snuggles gave a confirmation whistle. Nugget, Hah and Houston didn't stop running. The lillipup was so focused on attacking Houston's heels he hadn't noticed Snuggles drop back behind him for an attack.

Hank took an empty pokeball from his pocket before he tossed it to me. I caught it. 'Catch it for me.' He said to me. 'Send out one of your birds to retrieve the ball once it is thrown.' I said to Hank. Hank nodded and released one of his pidgey into his lap, on Houston's back while he continued to run.

'Hah fall back to flank for a moment.' I said to her. 'Tor!' she responded and did as she was asked. Snuggles noticed that I was ready.

Snuggles gave her war like scream and jumped at the lillipup. She landed on it's back and knocked it into the dirt to skid along behind Houston's hooves. Snuggles gave off a bright flash of electricity as she electrocuted the stunned Lillipup. She used the momentum of the attack to tumble and kick the lillipup into the air before landing on her feet and continuing to run.

I threw the empty ball at the airborne lillipup. It vanished into a flash of red light and the ball went rolling to the ground. We were moving too fast to see if it was wobbling or not. 'Pidgey get the ball.' Hank told the pidgey. 'Pidgey!' The little bird answered before flying back to where the ball had landed.

'If that was successful that has to be one of the most epic catches ever!' I said with a laugh. 'While you were at the Safari Zone Snuggles and I practiced that tumble and throw for when she was with me and Butane on a run. I'm glad I thought to teach her that.' Hank said with a grin. I laughed a little as Snuggles leapt up onto Houston's back to look Hank in the face.

Hank laughed. 'Ok! Ok! You earned a treat. When we stop you can have one. Now get down and keep running on your own feet missy!' Hank said to Snuggles with a laugh. Snuggles was content with that and jumped down to run next to Houston again.

I could hear Houston panting hard. He almost seemed to wheeze when he breathed. I looked at him closely while he ran. He was beginning to get tired which didn't seem right. We hadn't been running long enough for him to get tired so quickly. 'Hank slow down for a bit something isn't right with Houston.' I said to him.

We all slowed to a stop. Scout and Cheyenne returned at that moment. We were just on the outskirts of Lush forest now. I slid off Hah and went over to Houston.

I checked his halter. It wasn't any tighter. I walked around to his side and leant into him to listen to his chest and his breathing. He had a definite wheeze but where from I wasn't sure.

'I will check his feet. Butane can get like this if he gets a stone in his hoof.' Hank said to me as he slid off Houston. Hank went about checking Houston's hooves as I turned to look at Cheyenne and Scout. Hank's pidgey returned with the ball between its talons. It landed on Houston's back and waited for Hank to notice.

'Did you find a path through the forest?' I asked them. 'Moth.' Scout confirmed. I looked at Cheyenne. She landed on Nugget's back and looked up at me. 'Cheyenne return for now. I will bring you back out again when we get to the other side of the forest.' I said to her. Cheyenne returned herself to her ball.

I looked at the forest with a frown. 'Hank what lives in the forest?' I asked him. 'It's a jungle actually and apparently Goomy live there. A lot of bugs. Some random grass and fairy types and castform of all things. There is also an endangered bird, like a wood-pecker, that lives in there.' Hank replied to me.

I frowned. 'Goomy? Really?...' I groaned. 'I think I'm going to let Triffid lead us through the jungle. He is surprisingly fast through the trees.' I said to Hank. Hank looked up at me before nodding. We couldn't afford a delay because of a Goomy.

I know in the games to complete the pokedex you had to catch them all, but some Pokemon just were not worth the effort. Not in reality. They were either too ridiculous to try and own or too stupid to actually train.

For example magmortar and slugma. They are supposed to be made from litteral lava and match the same hot temperatures of that same substance. Why would you catch one just to burn yourself to death in its presence? Especially if it decides it loves you and wants a cuddle. Nope! Not for me. I like my skin unburnt and not melted off my body. I'm not saying they aren't kind of cute and fascinating but… not for me thanks.

In my opinion Goomy was in that same box of "don't even both trying to own one, you will just regret it later." I'm not trying to say that goomy are evil. I would just rather not watch myself being digested and eaten by a little slime blob too stupid to know the difference between friend and food.

Hank took his bag off and opened it up to dig in there. 'Houston has a small pebble stuck in his hoof. I will get it out. Then we can keep going.' Hank said as he pulled a metal tool from his bag. He lifted Houston's front hoof and gently dug between Houston's cloven hoof with the tool. After a minute the little rock fell out and Hank let Houston have his hoof back.

'Tauros!' Houston said happily. He turned around to nuzzle at Hank with a happy huff. Hank laughed as he was pushed over by the happy tauros. Hank chuckled while he was nuzzled into the ground until he was laying flat on his back. 'It was nothing Houston! Knock it off and let me get up!' Hank said with a laugh.

Houston snorted and stepped back. Hank sat up, put the tool in his bag again and then zipped it shut. He got up to his feet and put the bag back on. 'Milo do you have any empty balls in your pocket ready to go?' He asked me. 'No…' I said before taking my bag off.

Hank laughed and finally noticed his pidgey. 'Ah I forgot. Good job, thank you pidgey!' He said with a smile. He scratched the pidgey on top of the head before taking the lillipup ball from it. 'Return now pidgey.' Hank called the pidgey back. In a flash of red it was back in its ball.

Hank scanned the friend ball with his pokeGear and registered the lillipup.

While Hank was preoccupied I found the poke ball crate and opened it up. I split the ten poke balls into give. I put five poke balls on either side of my thighs, in the large pockets of my cargo pants. I left the premier ball in my bag. I zipped the bag shut and put it back on my back.

'Triffid come out.' I called him. Triffid came out of his ball and looked around before looking at me. 'Triffid we need safe passage through the jungle. If you see one of these pokemon, please avoid it at all costs.' I said to Triffid as i pulled up a picture of a Goomy on my PokeGear. I showed Triffid the picture of the Goomy. Triffid looked at it before giving me a silent nod.

'Hank what is that endangered bird called?' I asked him. Hank looked at me with a strange expression. 'Thinking of breeding them if you can catch one?' Hank asked me. 'I would yes but I was going to tell Triffid that he could eat any of the Pokemon he wanted in there except for the endangered bird.' I said to Hank. 'You let him eat on the job?' Hank asked me. 'I do. I'm ok with it because he still does what I ask even while eating.' I said with a smile. 'Bel!' Triffid responded. Hank chuckled. 'Alright, he is your Pokemon. As long as he gets us through the jungle quickly I will be happy.' Hank said with a laugh.

'You still didn't tell me the name of that bird.' I pointed out to Hank. 'Something beak… drumbeak… no. Trumbeak?' Hank mused while he tried to remember the name. I typed the name into my gear and a picture came up. I walked over to Hank and held up my gear for him to see. 'Is that it?' I asked him. 'Yeah that is it.' Hank said with a smile.

I walked up to Triffid and held the gear up to him to show him the picture. 'Do not eat these ones. You can eat anything else but not these.' I said to him. 'Bel!' He responded with a nod. I put my PokeGear away and then went back over to Hah. 'Scout lead the way, Triffid make sure we stay out of trouble.' I said as I tapped Hah on the shoulder.

Hah lowered herself so I could climb on her again. Hank climbed back onto Houston. Snuggles and Nugget waited for us to move. Triffid used his vines to move ahead. He climbed the closest tree and then started to follow Scout.

Scout lead as fast as Triffid could keep up and the rest of us followed. We were making good speed despite the density of the trees and all the vines everywhere. We got through the Jungle in an hour and a half with no delays or dramas. Between Scout keeping to the most open track he could find and Triffid guiding us around potential danger and delays, we did very well to get through the Jungle with no encounters.

When we ran out of trees I returned Triffid and released Cheyenne again. The Jungle thinned out and steaming rocks going up a steep slope faced us. We were at the foot of the volcano now. We just had to get around it.

Hank steered Houston to walk around the foot of the volcano. He was now headed north. Hah followed. Cheyenne and Scout flew ahead to try and find an easy path. In the distance, up the slope, I could see a group of kangaskhan and cubone together. We ignored them. We still had quite a distance to travel.

'While we have flatter ground should we run?' I asked Hank. 'Might be a good idea, we only have two or so hours of daylight left.' Hank responded. Hank dug his heels into Houston's sides to made him run again.

Houston started at a run. The raptors followed at his flanks. Only Hank knew where we were going to now. Up ahead I saw Cheyenne fly up very suddenly and very quickly. She looked like she was in trouble. Scout dove down and swooped low. I could see a mist of his glittering poisonous feathers fall to the ground.

'Hank!' I shouted at him. 'I see it!' He said as he steered Houston to the fight. 'Nugget save Cheyenne!' I shouted at Nugget. Nugget gave his war cry and raced ahead. Hah gave a shrill whistle and raced after Nugget, keeping up. We left Hank and Houston behind to catch up. Houston didn't have the speed that Nugget and Hah had.

A series of fireballs shot up at Cheyenne and Scout. Cheyenne managed to dodge but Scout wasn't so lucky. 'Nugget charge up!' I said to him. 'Tor!' Nugget responded while he ran. Scout started to fall out of the sky. He was going to hit the ground. 'Scout return!' I called him right before he hit the ground. Scout and Cheyenne's attacker's came into view. A group of five salandit.

Scout turned into a flash of red light and came back to his ball. 'Glitz come out!' I called her. Glitz came out of her ball and landed on her feet. The hot ground gave a sizzling sound under her. Her eyes lost their dazed expression and she focused for the battle. She gave a shudder. He must have been burnt by the hot patch of rock she just landed on. I had to ignore it and get my head in the battle.

'Glitz water gun all of them!' I commanded her as Nugget gave a squeal. 'Nugget spark the salandit while Glitz water guns them!' I called to him. 'Poke!' Glitz responded before letting loose a torrent of water at the salandit.

One of the salandit fainted from the attack. One of them ran away. The other three turned their attention to Nugget and Glitz after taking the direct hit. I threw an empty poke ball at the fainted one to get it out of the way. It vanished in a flash of red light.

One!

One of the salandit rushed at Nugget aiming a scratch. 'Nugget double team!' I called to him.

Two!

One of the other salandit hissed and started to exhale a fog of purple gas. 'Stay away from the gas! Glitz water gun again!' I called out.

Three!

The last salandit shot another ember at Cheyenne.

Four!

'Cheyenne quick attack out of the way and then foresight!' I called her. The fireball only just missed her wings as she zoomed forward over the ember attack.

Five!

Two of the salandit were hit by the next torrent of water gun from Glitz. The third one wasn't hit by the water gun because it was rushing at Nugget. The Salandit aiming its scratch and Nugget missed. Nugget was fast enough that he got out of the way.

Six!

Another salandit fainted. I threw another ball.

Click!

One!

A scream echoed and Snuggles ran between the remaining two salandit. She let out a an explosive thunder wave on both of them.

Two!

The two remaining salandit fell over, paralyzed.

Three!

Two balls flew through the air and hit the two remaining salandit. They both vanished into a flash of red light and got sucked into the poke balls.

Four!

One!

One!

'Good work Snuggles. Be ready to attack again if hey come out.' Hank called to her. They must have worked hard while I was in the Safari Zone. I was impressed.

Five!

Click!

Two!

'Cheyenne pick up the pokeballs that have caught their targets.' I called her. 'Yanma!' Cheyenne responded.

Six!

Three!

From the corner of my eye I saw something. Nugget and Cheyenne went and picked up a ball each. But that wasn't what I saw in the corner of my eye.

Seven!

Four!

The salandit that had run away. He was looking at Snuggles. Snuggles was growling at the ball wobbling near her feet.

Eight!

Five!

I watched silently wondering what it was going to do. It was approaching cautiously but not in a manner that showed it was going to attack. It looked curious about Snuggles.

Pop!

Six!

'Snuggles behind you!' I warned her. The salandit that looked like it had fainted from Glitz's water gun materialized in a zap of red light and sprang at Snuggles to scratch her. The salandit was intercepted in mid air by an ember attack that had enough force to blast it sideways. Away from Snuggles.

Click!

I went to throw another ball but Hank beat me to it. I looked across to the other Salandit that had just attacked his companion. He was ignoring the fact that the others had been caught. He was focused only on Snuggles.

One!

Did he like Snuggles? What I had read about salandit had been interesting. Only the females evolved and all of the females seemed to have a trend of creating their own reverse harems. They did this by emitting a pheromone to make every male in the area think that they loved her.

Two!

Snuggles had no such scent about her. She wasn't even the same species. It wasn't uncommon or unheard of for interspecies relationships to happen but Snuggles was a baby and that salandit… maybe he knew he had been tricked by the pheromones before. Maybe he wanted something different. I didn't even know yet that he was male. But there was an eighty-seven percent chance that he was male. With how that salandit looked at Snuggles I could bet my big toe that he was male.

Click!

'What just happened?' Hank asked me. He looked as shocked as I did that the salandit wasn't attacking any more. He was just walking in a daze towards Snuggles. Snuggles turned and saw him approach.

'Saaaaaaaaaa, Salandit.' the salandit said in a bashful voice before stopping and looking down at his claws. He looked back up at Snuggles. Snuggles looked as shocked as we did. She looked back to Hank for direction.

'Salandit, Snuggles is mine. If you want to be around her then you have to let me catch you.' Hank called out to it. The salandit looked at Hank and then hissed. 'I think he wants you to release Snuggles instead.' I said to Hank with a smirk.

'What do you think Snuggles, shall we show him who is boss?' Hank asked her. Snuggles snorted and turned to the remaining salandit.

Cheyenne landed on my head and bopped me on the nose with a pokeball. I took the ball and she flew off my head to retrieve the next ball.

Snuggles lowered her head and raised her tail in an offensive, ready position. The salandit looked confused but then hissed, accepting the challenge.

Both of them raced forward at the same time. The salandit ready with a scratch. Snuggles let loose a screech. The screech made the salandit shudder and miss its attack. She then hit with a tackle while being covered in static electricity, shocking the salandit on impact.

The electric shock made the salandit release a small cloud of toxic gas. 'Snuggles get out of there!' Hank called her but it was too late. Snuggles stumbled out, dizzy and confused from the effects. 'Stortat?' Snuggles asked before tripping on her own feet and falling into the hot ground. She wasn't fainted yet but she was badly poisoned.

Salandit recovered from the shock and crawled out of the cloud of poison gas. He went over to Snuggles. He didn't attack. He cuddled into her with a happy hiss. More gasses came up from his back and tail as he nuzzled Snuggles.

In her confused state Snuggles let off a charged spark attack, doing damage to herself and the salandit. Both of them fainted together in what had to be one of the weirdest battles ever. 'Snuggles return!' Hank called her as he held out her ball.

Hank then threw a premier ball at the salandit that cuddled Snuggles.

One!

'I don't know if that salandit is a pedophile or a cradle snatcher. In another year it won't matter though. If he likes her and she soon feels the same way it might be a good breeding match for interesting egg moves.' Hank mused as he watched the ball.

Two!

'Hank are you being a pervert again?' I asked him in a blunt tone.

Three!

Hank quirked his brow at me before folding his arms over his chest. Glitz returned herself to her ball. The ground must have been burning her too much.

Click!

'No. I just found it very curious that a salandit decided to show affection to something that wasn't druging it up with poisonous pheromones. There is a high chance that is a male and not an overly affectionate female. IF that IS a female and it was doing that act to try and get revenge on us for capturing her harem, then we might have trouble on our hands.' Hank said with a frown.

'Good thing you caught that one in a different ball then.' I mused as Cheyenne hovered to me with another ball in her feet. I took the ball and held it in my hand with the other ball. 'What are we going to do with all of these?' I asked Hank.

Hank shrugged. 'What we don't want maybe Janice can use as a stealth squad? They are fast and sneaky. Perfect for what she needs to use for her own survival right now. Especially if she is going to gather intelligence undetected.' Hank suggested. 'Ok, So we don't register them for now. We sort them out later once we set up camp?' I asked him. 'Sounds like a good idea, this ground is hot. We should keep moving before we need to use up all our burn heals.' Hank suggested.

Nugget jumped up onto Houston's back and dropped a ball there. Cheyenne picked up the premier ball as Nugget went and picked up the last poke ball. I pocketed the two balls that Cheyenne had already given me. I put them in the pocket on my shin because I could zip it shut. Cheyenne gave me another ball and I pocketed it with the rest. I was certain to zip that pocket shut. I did not want to lose those balls.

Nugget jumped back up onto Houston's back to pass hank the last ball. Nugget jumped back down and looked to Hank. Hank pocketed the two balls that he had been passed and steered Houston's head to face the right way. 'Run on Houston.' Hank guided him.

The small group began to run again. Cheyenne flew ahead to hint to us the best way to go before we got there. She stayed high enough to be out of trouble, but low enough to make good judgement calls for our trip.

After another hour of riding we made it.

Well mostly.

We had to find a safe way down.

We had stopped at the top of a cliff that dropped down to a small cove. A sandy beach surrounded by black cliffs and rocks. The rocks made an arching shape out into the water, creating a sheltered swimminghole. It was a mini bay. There was a narrow stretch of beach and sloping rock that curved down into the cove. That must be our way in.

Hank steered Houston along the cliff to the safe slope where we slowly made our way down to the sand. Hah and Nugget had followed with surprising nimbleness in their feet.

Once Hah was on the sand I slid off her back and started to walk around. There was a shallow cave in the cliff face. Hank got off Houston and walked over to the concave area. The sun was setting and it was getting dark quickly.

'Welcome to our honeymoon!' He said with a smug smile while holding his arms up into the air for emphasis.


	31. Chapter 31

DISCLAIMER! I do not own any of the songs quoted in this chapter!

Black Lightning Chapter 31

My curiosity of this small cove was disrupted by someone making a "BLUGH!" sound. I looked to where it had come from.

Nugget was standing in the shallow of the beach water with his tongue out. Nugget was standing deep enough that the water covered his feet. He looked down at the water and tried it again before making the same sound. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

Poor baby must have been thirsty. It was the first time he had ever come to the beach. He didn't know that the ocean wasn't fresh water like the Lake of Rage and every other body of water he had experienced so far.

'Nugget you can't drink ocean water, it's not good for you.' I said trying to keep from laughing. Hank wasn't making the effort to not laugh at Nugget's dilema. He openly laughed at Nugget's reaction. 'Stator...' Nugget said to me confused. He came over to me with a sad look in his eyes. 'You're right, it's time for food and drink. You did a long run for having such little legs.' I said to Nugget as I took my bag off my back.

At the mention of food, all of the other Pokemon on my belts came out of their balls. Triffid, Scout, and Glitz. Houston and Cheyenne came over to me, so did Hah. They all surrounded me and looked at me with expectant eyes. 'Alright everyone, go and relax near the water. I will get everything ready. I will call you when I'm done!' I said with a chuckle.

They all listened and reluctantly moved away.

I put the extension on my PokeGear and woke it up again. I went into my PC storage and took out my remaining pokemon. All of them. The two aerodactyl, the trapinch, the horsea, the magikarp, the sandile, the chansey and the dewpider. I released all of them at once. The quiet beach was filling up quick.

Not far away Hank was doing the same thing as me. He released all of his Pokemon too.

The three aerodactyl flew up to perch on the side of the cliff and look at me with glares. I ignored the glares and looked at the remaining pokemon.

My magikarp was flopping on the ground, like a fish out of water next to the horsea, who wasn't in any better condition out of the water. 'Woops! Hang on you two.' I said. I picked up the magikarp while he flopped in my arms. He was panicking at being on land. He had probably never been out of the water before except for when he had jumped up to get some air. I held onto him the best that I could before scooping down to pick up the horsea too. I carried them to the water and put them into the shallows.

They both put themselves right side up in the water and looked at me. They didn't look impressed. Glitz wadded over to them with a smile. She was still focused and aware of her surroundings. She must have still been burnt. I would have to heal everyone up later if chansey didn't beat me to it. None of them seemed to be complaining about any discomfort right now so I left it alone.

I stepped back and turned to the side so I could address all of my new Pokemon all at once. 'I'm Milo for every one who doesn't know me. I'm your new trainer. This is your new family, we all look after each other here. No one hurts anyone else. If you are good you get special treats. Right now I am working on getting dinner ready for all of you. Please feel free to explore and do what you want for now, but please don't go too far away. If wild Pokemon attack you we can't help you if we can't hear or see you.' I said to all of them.

They all looked between themselves. They all seemed to be shell-shocked by these facts. Some of them I hadn't even caught, so they didn't even know about me. I noticed then that the dewpider was completely healed. Being in the PC must have restored her to full health.

'Milo can I have that extension and the other Salandit balls? I want to check their stats.' Hank asked me. 'Sure!' I responded. I walked over to him and took the extension off my own PokeGear. I handed it to Hank before leaning down to unzip my shin pocket. I took the three salandit balls from my pocket and also handed them to Hank.

'Did you want to keep one?' Hank asked as he looked at me. 'Not particularly. I can see how they could be useful, but I have my hands kind of full with what I have now. I'm not going to stop you from keeping them all though. If that is what you want. I just don't feel like I could handle a toxic fire lizard right now. I already have an attention seeking, sand swimming crocodile to handle.' I said with a sigh.

Hank nodded before smirking. 'If I keep any I think it will be that one that is infatuated with Snuggles. Other than that, I think I'm going to offer them to Janice, maybe give one to Cecilia…' Hank trailed off. 'But?' I asked him. 'But if we struck lucky and caught a female, I think we could make a small profit on auctioning her. Females are rare and breeders trying to establish their own salandit lines would be all over that.' Hank pointed out to me.

I nodded. 'I'm good with that plan. I leave it in your hands. I have hungry Pokemon and a very thirsty Nugget to tend to.' I said with a chuckle. Hank laughed. 'Then stop stalling!' He said to me. I rolled my eyes at him.

I got out the food and water bowls. I used about seven bottles of water in one of the water bowls from everyone drinking it dry every time I filled it up. I was ok with this. I kept one of the bowls full of water and used the other for food. I fed the magikarp, the dewpider and the horsea in the water with Glitz. I followed that food with treats as promised. I kept the treats that Kyuubi had picked, unopened in my bag.

Triffid had not eaten his share of the food. He ate his treat but used his food as bait. He attached himself to the outside rim of the rocks in the water. He used his food to fish for prey. Hah stood on the rocks next to him to watch this new method of hunting.

The aerodactyl trio were gliding over the ocean water looking for prey near the surface. One of them swooped down and caught a small basculine between their jaws before tossing it into the air and swallowing it head first.

After the Pokemon were all fed and content I looked around for Hank. Hank had set up our bed rolls together in the sheltered concave area of the cliffs. He was sitting on the bedrolls looking at his PokeGear. He must have been comparing the stats and natures of our salandit catch.

I walked over and sat next to Hank on the bed rolls. Hank shuffled closer to me and rested an arm over my shoulders while he looked at the screen. 'What's the verdict before we eat something ourselves?' I asked him. I grabbed the water bottle he had sitting next to himself on the other side of his lap. I opened it and took a sip.

'We have a mixed bag of ages, the oldest one being the female at five years old. She has terrible base stats though which is probably why she hasn't evolved yet. The males are actually reasonably strong minus the hatchling who isn't much older than Snuggles and Nugget. The one who was infatuated with Snuggles is probably the best of the pick. He is a four year old and the highest level of the group.' Hank said before he looked at me.

Hank grinned and rested his brow against the side of my head in a side hug. 'Food, rest then swim?' Hank asked me. 'I did promise that didn't I?' I asked him. 'Yep!' Hank responded. He made the popping sound on the "P"

'What left overs do we have?' I asked him. 'Mostly finger food. Hang on.' Hank said as he stopped leaning on me. Hank got the food out of his back-pack. It was mostly wrapped in aluminium foil. Hank opened up a few parcels and set them on his lap.

We had a picnic on our bed rolls together while we watched the stars come out. The moon started to rise over the water, lighting up the night. It was a full moon tonight.

The younger Pokemon played together in the shallow water and on the sand. So far everyone was getting along. There were definite little social groups happening right now, but I was okay with that. This was a first-night together for many of them. They weren't all going to get along straight away.

Snuggles and Tilly still had a strained relationship.

Hah only seemed to be interested in what Triffid was catching in the water. I saw Triffid throw a small fish into the air for Hah to catch and eat.

Houston had laid himself down near the bed rolls and fallen asleep on the warm sand.

The three aerodactyl kept to themselves and stayed on the cliff above the cove.

After eating I sat with Hank on the bed rolls to digest. I was watching Scout. His wing now had a burn scar on it from being hit by ember earlier.

Right at that moment Scout was fluttering above the younger Pokemon and watching them play in the sand and water. The sandile was digging in the sand and popping up in different places while the others tried to catch her.

'Scout, come here for a moment.' I called him softly. Hank was resting an arm over my shoulders while I leant into his side. Scout looked at me and fluttered over. He landed on the sand and looked at me with his wings resting out flat, parallel with the sand. 'Is your wing still sore from the attack earlier?' I asked him.

'Veno.' He responded in a negative tone. 'That's good. Scout I want you to show me that you can use teleport.' I said to him. 'Moth.' Scout responded this time in a positive tone. Then he vanished.

Scout reappeared above the playing Pokemon in the sand. He then teleported back to where he had been on the sand in front of us. 'Very good. Hank can we borrow your venonat for a moment?' I asked him. 'Practice for teleporting others around too?' Hank asked me. 'Yeah.' I responded.

Hank grinned a little. 'Venofluff, come here a minute.' Hank called the venonat. It turned and looked at him. It waddled over to him and looked at him curiously. 'Venonat?' it asked. 'We would like your help. Scout is going to practice his teleport attack. He needs to practice teleporting with others, can you let him teleport you around the cove for practice?' Hank asked his venonat.

The Venofluff looked at Scout and gave a shy little chirp before looking at Hank. Venofluff gave Hank a nod. 'There you go Scout. Go can practice with Venofluff.' Hank said with a smirk and a wink to his venonat. Venofluff gave a little shiver before looking at Scout. 'Moth!' Scout sounded before fluttering up off the sand again. He landed on Venofluff and teleported them both away. They reappeared again on the rocky bluff next to Triffid and Hah.

'Is Venofluff female?' I asked Hank. Hank nodded and chuckled. 'She is, she is also older than Scout. Venofluff was owned by an old lady who died. The lady's family didn't know how to look after her so they offered her to a good home.' Hank said. 'Wait a second.' I said as I took out my PokeGear.

I looked up Scout's stats. Scout was seven years old. He had never had any registered owners to his DNA. He was caught in the forest of the Safari Zone. Possibly where he had been born and bred in the wild.

'So how old is Venofluff?' I asked Hank. Hank laughed. 'Twelve. She was a companion pokemon though. Her level is low but she has some pretty good base stats. She knows how to read and a lot of her skills are in the basic home keeping area. She came with the name Venofluff by the way.' Hank said to me with a chuckle.

'I guess where she came from she was an only Pokemon, with no others to interact with. With a healthy mature male of her own species around… I can see why she is being so awkward around Scout.' I said with a chuckle. Hank snickered. 'Won't she be close to evolving though?' I asked Hank. Hank shrugged. 'I don't know. The family couldn't tell me if she had an everstone used on her in the past. Apparently the old lady got a touch of dementia before having a heart attack. They found all kinds of strange things happening in her house.' Hank responded calmly.

He was watching Scout and Venofluff teleport around the beach. When they appeared in front of us again. Scout let go of Venofluff and fluttered down to the sand to rest. He looked tired. I reached into my pack and took out another long meat strip. I ripped it in half and held one out to each of them. 'Good work. You aren't done yet though Scout.' I said to them both before looking at Scout.

They both took a half off the chewy meat treat and started to gnaw at it while they watched me. 'Scout we are going to play a game that is going to push you to your limits before you fall asleep to rest.' I said to him. Scout stopped chewing on his treat. He looked at me in silence. I could see he was tired but he looked like he was up for the challenge.

'Everyone! Can I have your attention please!' I called out to everyone. Most of them turned to face me. I waited until they were quiet and listening before I started to talk. 'Scout needs to practice his teleport attack. So we are going to play a game. Scout is going to use teleport around the cove. The one who catches him first will get another treat. Scout is only allowed to flee using teleport. The rest of you are not allowed to use any distance attacks to catch him, physical attacks only. For those of you who don't have a way to grab Scout, a simple but obvious touch will do.' I said to them all.

While I spoke the Pokemon all looked between themselves before looking at me. 'Ready? START!' I called. Scout teleported with his treat to get away from Venofluff so she couldn't touch him.

The beach erupted into chaos. It seemed everyone liked the assorted treats that I had gotten them from the Mega Mart. Or they just liked to win. Some of them were super competitive and liked to be the dominant one in their little social circle.

Since Scout was only allowed to use teleport to flee he made sure to teleport and land on the sand, or on rocks, or even to hover just over the water. He was giving everyone a chance to catch him.

In the end it was Glitz who caught him.

Glitz had positioned herself to face a pile of rocks next to the cliff. She stared at the rocks in her happy daze, talking to herself. Scout thought he was safe behind her for a moment. Glitz dropped her tail on his wing and they both teleported next to the sleeping Houston.

'Glitz wins!' I called out, ending the game. Scout flopped into the sand, exhausted.

The game must have taken it out of him. Nugget, snuggles, Triffid, Hah and the aerodactyl trio had been especially difficult for him to get away from. They had a great amount of speed. Except Triffid, Triffid had long vines with a lot of reach.

Glitz waddled over to me with a big grin. 'Poke slow?' She asked me. I laughed and went into my bag. I took out the bag of treats for water type Pokemon. I took out a treat that was yellow and in the shape of a star.

Glitz opened her mouth wide for the treat. I flicked it into her mouth. It landed on her tongue and got stuck there. Slowly she shut her mouth and smiled before crunching on it. 'Slow!' She said before flopping on her side. She shut her eyes and fell asleep. I only knew that she had fallen asleep because a snore escaped her. A very loud snore.

Hank burst into laughter at the sight. 'Ok, I think I know why you like Glitz so much now. For a slowpoke she is pretty good value.' Hank said as he smirked at me. 'I didn't know that when I caught her.' I said with a sheepish grin.

'What do you mean?' Hank asked as he looked at me. 'We found a whole group of them asleep on a creek bed. Janice went through and scanned them all before catching the one she wanted. She had pointed to Glitz and told me that she would be a good match for me. I trusted Janice's judgement at reading the stats in her Gear and caught Glitz while she was snoring on the pebbles in a lump, with a bunch of other slowpoke.' I said to Hank.

Hank chuckled and grinned before standing up and taking his shirt off. 'Janice has gotten really good at judging a Pokemon's over all personality by their base stat reading. It's not surprising that she chose Glitz out for you.' Hank said with a grin. Hank dropped his shirt into the sand and held a hand out for me.

I took his hand and he pulled me up to my feet. 'As promised, time for a dip.' Hank said with a small grin. I let out a heavy sigh and nodded. 'Yeah just don't get shocked by what you see. I might look good in tight clothes but I have as many scars on me as Alph and Kyuubi combined.' I warned him with a grimace.

Hank shrugged while he looked at me. 'I expect as much from you. Scars don't make you ugly Milo. Scars are badges of strength. You survived another day to keep living. Every scar you might have is just something that makes me love you more, because you lived long enough to be by my side another day.' Hank said to me calmly.

I was too distracted by my own insecurities to notice the piece of eye candy in front of me. Hank gently grabbed my chin to make me look at him. 'Milo… did you hear me? Earth to Milo.' He said with a sad smile.

'I heard you.' I said before sighing heavily. 'Just… slowly ok?' I said to him. Hank chuckled. 'I know that skinny dipping it probably your emotional limit for tonight. Unless you instigate things, you get to hold onto your V-card. I'm not going to just take that from you unless you are ready.' Hank said to me softly. He let go of my chin before leaning forward to kiss my brow.

'Ok.' I said feeling a little better. I pulled my own shirt off, over my head. I looked at Hank to see his reaction. Hank wasn't looking at me like I was attractive. He was looking at the scars over my chest and midsection like he was committing them to memory. Slowly he reached out to touch my belly, just above my hip. 'Did you get your appendix out?' He asked.

I pulled a face. 'If it was my appendix it wouldn't have a matching one on the other side.' I said as I looked away and started to shrug out of my bra. 'They look medical, what are they?' Hank asked me. He looked worried now. 'Remember when I got really sick and then told you that I couldn't have kids because the doctor said so?' I asked him.

Hank nodded while he watched me. I clenched my jaw a moment before looking at him again. 'The Jammersons had my ovaries removed in preparation for my training to be their new little brothel slut. One of their regular customers was a surgeon. He faked my tests so that the Jammersons could legally apply for the operation to happen. The state allowed it since it was a health thing that apparently would keep me alive.' I said in a strained voice.

Hank gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. 'You didn't tell me this sooner because?' He asked me, about to blow a fuse. While he was distracted by rage I pulled my bra off and then stepped up to him. 'I did tell you! I told you that I couldn't have kids and I told you that the Jammersons were running a brothel after I ran away and refused to go back!' I snapped back at him.

Hank took a deep breath to steady himself. He pinched his nose and turned away a moment before turning back. 'Ok you did tell me, but you didn't tell me the detail that it was the Jammersons that made you sterile.' Hank said in a strained voice.

I could only sigh.

'It seemed like a moot point and I didn't want you done for murder. You were the only valuable thing that I had other than my education.' I said to him with a frown. Hank blinked a few times as he looked at me. 'What made you think back then that I was capable of murder?' Hank asked me. He had started to unbuckle his belts and dig one of his heels into his toes to kick a boot off.

'You beat Brian Holt to an inch of his life because he called me a bitch in front of everyone.' I said to him with a chuckle. Hank smirked darkly. 'Yes I did…" He admitted before he frowned sadly. 'If you did that to someone just for calling me a name, I couldn't imagine what you would do to someone who made me sterile.' I said quietly.

I knelt down to undo my boots. 'So what is the big one along your ribs from?' Hank asked me to temporarily change the subject. I smiled and then laughed. 'The big one along my ribs? Triffid at the safari Zone. That one is a battle scar. I like that one.' I said up to Hank with a smirk.

I stood up and kicked my boots off. Hank snickered. 'So some of your scars you are proud of then?' Hank asked me playfully. 'Some of them, actually most of them. None of them were self mutilation, they just happened in fights… or on the dark exception when the Jammersons deemed fit to make alterations to me for their gain.' I said with a frown.

I started to undo my belts while Hank went silent. 'You are right though. I would have stormed the place and killed them all. I probably would have burnt the house down too.' Hank said to me quietly. Hank went quiet as he stared at his feet with a troubled frown.

I slid out of my cargos and underwear at the same time. I left them in the sand before pulling my socks off as well. 'Well while you think about it, I'm going in the water.' I said with a laugh. I started walking to the water ahead of Hank.

'Hey!' Hank said suddenly realising that I had managed to distract him in his own mind. Hank stripped off the rest of the way and ran after me. He scooped me up to carry me bridal style. I gave a surprised squeak when I was picked up off the sand. Hank laughed and kept running into the water.

The water was surprisingly warm. Hank didn't let me go, he walked out until he was chest deep. Hank nuzzled me before looking up at the moon. 'I'm so glad it is a full moon.' He said before looking at me with a smirk. 'Enjoying the view?' I asked him as I rolled my eyes. Hank chuckled.

'More than I thought I would, though I'm not inclined to do anything that you don't want me to. Just seeing you trust me this much has made me really happy.' Hank said while he held me. I relaxed in his arms and floated where he held me. 'Good because you know what happens to guys who go too far too fast.' I said to him.

Hank winced before groaning. 'Yep! I've seen you kick plenty of guys hard enough in the dick to invert it into a cunt. I don't hate myself enough to let you do that.' Hank said in a strained voice, probably imagining the pain that would cause. I couldn't help but giggle. I leaned up and kissed his cheek. 'Nope, you are safe from that. I might do other things to you though, but I wouldn't do that.' I responded.

Hank shuddered and looked at me. 'You are the most terrifying thing in my life other than my mother. Do you know that?' Hank asked me. I couldn't help but smile. 'Yes but I am YOUR terrifying thing, just like you are my piece of eye candy.' I said to him teasingly. 'Hang on Milo. You are selling yourself short. Digging in the dirt all day and handling fossils has made you just as athletic as me. You look pretty damned good too.' Hank said to me.

The playful glint vanished from his eyes a moment before it returned and he smirked. 'What?' I asked a little worried. I wasn't sure where his mind had just gone. Hank said nothing, he held me tight and kissed me full on the lips. I was surprised but I kissed him back. It was a long and slow kiss until Hank broke it.

'That wasn't half bad. With some more practice I won't be able to keep myself off you.' Hank teased. I scoffed and splashed him in the face. The splash made him drop me in the water. I swam away with a laugh and splashed him again.

My new magikarp saw me splash Hank and he also splashed Hank. 'Hey! What is this?' Hank asked with a laugh as he started to splash us back. I giggled and turned away from the water that came from Hank. 'This is fun!' I retorted. 'No! This is cheating! Magikarp splash Milo!' Hank said while he laughed.

I looked at my Magikarp. He hesitated. I whispered to him. 'Splash Hank again and I will give you more treats later.' I said quickly. 'Karp!' the magikarp said excitedly before splashing Hank again. 'I'm not Milo!' Hank protested under the splash barrage from my new magikarp. 'Karp stop.' I said while I giggled. Magikarp stopped splashing Hank.

I grabbed the magikarp and gave him a quick hug. 'Good job. 'I kissed him on the top of the head. 'Karp!' magikarp tried to escape from my hug.

'Hey! How come the fish gets a kiss?' Hank asked me. 'According to Triffid magikarp taste nice. I thought if I kissed him and got his flavour on my lips you would enjoy my terrible kissing more.' I retorted. Hank looked at me shocked before he burst out laughing. 'I walked into that one. I applaud your wit.' Hank said with a cheeky grin. I let the magikarp go. He swam around me before swimming back to the shallow water.

I yawned widely and started to float on the water. 'You kept your promise, you had a huge day and we have a very early morning tomorrow with another huge day. Should we go to bed?' Hank asked as he swam over to where I was floating. 'Yeah, might be for the best.' I said with a sleepy grin as I looked at him. 'Come on Doctor Williams. I will tuck you in.' Hank said to me with a smile.

He scooped me up into his arms again and walked back to the bedrolls. When we got near our beds he put me down and then got a towel out of his bag. He came back over to me and dried me off. His touch was gentle and careful while he dried me. He didn't ask me to return the favour. He dried himself off.

I crawled onto one of the bed rolls and laid down on my side. Hank laid down behind me once he was dry. The tropical air was warm enough that we didn't need a blanket. Hank put and arm around my hips and pulled me close to him for cuddles. I snuggled back so my back was hard against his chest and got comfortable in his embrace. I let myself relax while he spooned me.

'I'm glad that I got to make a nice memory here. This was a place of regret for me.' Hank whispered to me. 'What makes you say that?' I asked him quietly. 'One of my missions, shortly after I gained dual championship status and started to travel with Janice, Clyde and Will, brought me to this cove. That war was because of a global food shortage. Because of the food shortage...' Hank trailed off in a pained whisper.

'What happened?' I asked quietly. Hank drew in a deep breath before exhaling. He gave a shudder like he was about to sob. 'Kyuubi's daughters starved to death on this beach. We didn't have a chance to bury them. We had to evacuate before we could do anything with the bodies. Kalos soldiers somehow found this spot and came over the ridge. We only had time to flee for our own lives.' Hank said quietly. He held onto me tighter.

His nose was on my neck and I felt a tear roll off his nose. 'Hank it's not your fault. You would have tried your best.' I tried to reassure him. I could feel him nod a little as he sighed sadly. I felt more tears on the back of my neck while he held me tightly to him.

I wriggled a little in his arms to turn around and face him. I reached up and wiped his tears away in the dark. 'You did your best, you don't need to blame yourself. If those poor little vulpix did blame you, they would have cursed you to be miserable for eternity. You aren't cursed, they know it isn't your fault. Not even Kyuubi blames you. He, for sure, would have cursed you if he thought it was your fault.' I said to him while I kept wiping tears away.

Hank nodded silently and curled into me to rest his brow against my brow. I couldn't reach his eyes any more so I decided to gently stroke his hair. Hank kissed my nose softly before finding my lips with his. He tasted salty from the tears, but I kissed him back to try and comfort him. Hank softly stroked my neck with his thumb before breaking the kiss and resting his brow against mine.

'Milo…' He whispered to me. 'Yes?' I asked quietly. 'Thank you… I want to take you everywhere I have bad memories to make them good memories. This is really dorky to say but in the words of Johnny Cash, you are my sunshine. My only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey…' Hank started to sing a little while he whispered to me. I gave a chortle before licking his nose. 'Hush! Didn't you notice that the song was about him not having the woman of his dreams and wishing he did?' I asked him quietly with a snicker.

'No… This could be worse though. I could be calling you my Lola.' Hank snickered a little. I laughed quietly. 'Is that because I almost broke your spine when I hugged you or because you can't understand why I walked like a woman but talked like a man?' I asked him. I was giggling now. 'Nope. Just because you are mine. That is the only reason oh my oh Lola! L, Oh, L, Ay, Lola!' Hank said to me with a laugh.

I snickered quietly before nuzzling my nose on his. 'Can was sleep now Mr Drag Queen?' I asked him playfully. I yawned a little at the end. 'We can sleep now. We have to be up early in the morning. Need to get to route eight to revive your fossils before we go and buy our house.' Hank said sleepily as he softly nuzzled his nose on mine in return.

We touched brows and relaxed in each others arms. I drifted into a deep content sleep. Being with Hank felt right, I was still uncomfortable being naked. But I am uncomfortable looking at myself naked in the mirror any way. That was just me. My own body disgusted me, but I was glad it didn't disgust him. That was what made me comfortable. Hank still loved me for everything that I was. That made everything ok. This made me fall asleep happy.

Milo.

'Milo.'

'MILO!'

I was woken up by hot breath on my face and a deep whisper. 'Milo the witching hour is almost upon us. It is time for you to awaken.' The voice said to me. I stirred a little in Hank's arms and opened me eyes as I turned my head to the sound of the voice.

Kyuubi.

Kyuubi was looking at me expectantly. He was in a fully human form. There were no signs of him being a ninetales other than the fact he still had red glowing eyes. He was in a camouflage jumpsuit and wore a black cap. He held his hand out for me. 'Come, get dressed quickly, we haven't got a lot of time.' He said to me.

'What if I wake up Hank?' I asked him. 'I put him into a deep sleep, he won't wake up, neither will the others, now hurry.' He urged me as he held his hand out for me. I frowned and sat up. I took his hand with a firm grasp and he pulled me to my feet.


	32. Chapter 32

**References**

Celestial Fox(es) and the Connection to the 'Green Mountains' (Ching Chiu)

**Chinese Jade throughout the ages.** _**By Stanley Nott**_. Information found from the chapter about Foxes. Quoted Insert from the book below.

"_The worship of the fox dates back to 3200 B.C. Shan-Kai Ching records that during the reign of wen (12th century B.C.) A Celestial fox appeared before the emperor, bearing in its mouth a book of knowledge. In recording this same story Keio Pu, a writer of the Ch'ing Dynasty, says, "the Celestial Fox came from Ching Chiu -'Green Mountains'-her nine tails are the symbol of her wonderful power. She came when the Chou empire was prosperous, bringing as a greeting, a book which she carried in her mouth. But after the overthrow of the Chou Dynasty and the corruption of the empire, She degenerated into a witch and brought no end of trouble for the people."_

**Author Notes:**

After a lot of research I couldn't find where exactly Ching Chiu/ The Green mountains were in China. I did find a few loose hints that it is possibly somewhere in Huangshan, Mount Sanqing or somewhere in JiuZhaiGou. The old folk lore knowledge seems to have been lost in time, so I can't really paint an accurate picture of the fabled Green Mountains in my description. This place will be a location in this chapter.

If anyone finds something more definitive, or knows about the real location of this folk story please tell me! I would love to know. (I was probably looking in the wrong places for the information that I wanted. Or there aren't any english translations of the old texts.)

Since geological formations change over time with erosion and tectonic plate movement, I will attempt to describe a place that will be a mix of all three places listed above. (The names of the possible locations are linked to the UNESCO web page for them. They seem to all be global heritage locations.)

Please bear with me in this chapter. I am trying my best to knit facts, folklore and pokemon together to come up with a plausible real world to pokemon world crossover. Especially since many Pokemon are based on real world myths and legends.

Thank you everyone for reading this far and waiting for this chapter. This was an especially difficult chapter to write up and it took a lot of planning and editing.

I appreciate your continued support and clicks! 3

Black Lightning Chapter 32

Kyuubi woke me from a deep sleep and urged me to get dressed as swiftly as possible. Once I was dressed he took my hand and lead me to the steep slope that was climbable, to exit the cove. I followed him the best that I could while he dragged me along behind himself. While I followed behind him I noticed that he was wearing my backpack. He must have put it on while I was getting dressed.

His hand was warm and his skin soft. His hand had a firm grip on mine but it wasn't so tight that it hurt. This wasn't helping my feelings towards Hank. Kyuubi was a big temptation. Kyuubi was stunningly handsome like this, even in drab camouflage gear. Before I could get too distracted by my own wandering thoughts about the mysterious Kyuubi...

'Milo Focus!' Kyuubi said as he lead me in the dark along the uneven ground. He pulled me up the steep slope, along a path and through a loop of rock. The loop of rock was more of a narrow arch where the lava flow had been so fast down the slope that it left an open cavity against the side of the volcano. Once we stepped through the rock archway, Kyuubi came to a sudden stop and looked up at the moon. He seemed to be listening for something, like he was making up his mind on where to go next.

I followed his line of sight up at the sky. I could only just see the moon in the sky.

A new moon.

Wasn't it a full moon just a moment ago? The landscape was only lit up by the stars now. I was well enough adjusted to the dark that I could see the basics of the rocks and landscape around us. But with no full moon it was a lot darker now. More dangerous now to be running around on the steep side of a volcano!

In the distance a barrage of gunshots sounded. They were getting louder by the second. They must have been getting closer.

There weren't gun-shots before. The war hadn't started yet so how could it have spread to Alola? The war wasn't due for another two days at least. What was going on?

Kyuubi turned us around and scooped me up to carry me bridal style. He ran around the loop of rock and went skidding down the slope we had just climbed up. He came to a stop and hid behind a boulder on the slope. He seemed to be waiting for something.

The gun shots were getting louder, followed by yelling. We were not hiding from the sound of the gun shots. We were hiding on the same side they were coming from.

I wasn't sure what we were hiding from instead of the approaching gun fight. Hiding from an approaching gun fight seemed like a better idea. 'Hush my sweet pet. Trust me.' Kyuubi assured me in my mind while he held me. He remained silent otherwise.

From behind the boulder, between the sounds of guns, I heard Will's voice. He sounded distressed, angry and younger. Much, much younger. 'Come on! Hurry up! If we don't get out of here we will be next.' Will shouted urgently. He was yelling at someone.

'But we can't just leave them!' Another familiar voice yelled. That voice sounded younger than it should have.

I was getting a very strange feeling about this situation. Like deja vu but worse.

'We can only carry the gear we need to survive! Now hurry up or we are dead too!' Will yelled back.

Whoever was arguing with Will was losing. Will either outranked them or they respected him enough to listen to him.

I could hear foot-steps running towards us. They scuffed and stomped closer before passing the bolder. They ran into view and then up the steep slope that Kyuubi had just skidded down.

I could make out Will and three others. The others were all rearing black hoodies. Will for some reason, was wearing a type of army uniform, but the formal version of it rather than the combat version. It looked like they were all carrying basic camping gear or bedding.

They had definently packed up in a rush. I could see that much in the dark.

I couldn't quite make out who the other three figures were, but I could have sworn that Will saw me as he looked back. His violet eyes gave a bright sheen when he looked at me in the dark. One of the others almost tripped in front of him, getting his attention again. Will pushed them ahead of himself in a rush. 'Go!' Will snapped urgently.

The one he pushed ahead seemed to be sobbing while they ran. I couldn't see their face but I could hear them sobbing. They almost tripped again on their way up the slope.

Will cast a last look back to where I was again. Again his eyes gave a violet glow when his eyes past where Kyuubi and I were. The fleeing group vanished behind a ridge of rock. They were gone as suddenly as they had appeared.

Once they were gone, Kyuubi ran down to where they had come from. It looked like the cove we had just come from, except none of my Pokemon were there. Hank wasn't there. In the spot where Hank had set up a bed for us to sleep, there was a gaping cave with a dying fireplace somewhere inside.

Kyuubi put me down on my feet and took my hand.

The gun shots were getting closer, so was the shouting.

Kyuubi pulled me into the cave. His touch was urgent and his movements were full of purpose as I was pulled along to the dying campfire. The fire was only smoldering embers now.

Next to the fireplace was a sad sight that I don't think I will ever unsee.

There were two very small and very scrawny vulpix. Their fur was ragged and patched, and I could see every bone there was to see through their fur. They were only just breathing, and their bodies were starting to twitch with the first signs of dying.

This was a curious scene to come across. The curious thing about these two vulpix wasn't that they were dying. There was one fire vulpix and there was one ice vulpix. Both elemental version of the foxes lived in different regions. What were they doing together? It didn't matter. Both were obviously in terrible condition. They looked like they had starved and weren't going to make it much longer.

'Milo catch them and put them into your PC, then take them out again.' Kyuubi instructed me as he took my bag from his back. His words drew me back to reality and action. Idiot! Don't just watch then die! Save them! Kyuubi put my bag in front of me. I crouched down and gave an angry huff at myself. I started to furiously dig through my bag.

Kyuubi drew a pistol from a holster under his jumpsuit and went to stand at the entrance of the cave. I could see him a little better when he was near the edge of the fire. When he went near the entrance of the cave he just became a silhouette with glowing red eyes.

I grabbed the first two balls that I could find in my bag. The two premier balls. That would have to do, I didn't have time to search for something with a better catch rate.

I dropped a premier ball on each of the vulpix. They both turned into red light and were sucked into their respective white poke balls. The balls landed on the sand and their button's flashed green.

Click!

They didn't even wobble, they were so weak that they couldn't even resist being caught. I took out my PokeGear and put the attachment onto it. Kyuubi must have gone through our things to make sure I had it before he woke me up.

I did as instructed. I put both of them into the PC before taking them out and releasing them again. They were still weak and starving but they weren't dying any more. They were both awake and alert now. Both of them looked at me wearily. I took out the bag of treats that Kyuubi had picked at the Mega Mart and tore it open.

I held a treat out to each of them to eat while I crouched on the floor. The two scrawny vulpix just looked at me with uneasy expressions. They made no move to take the food in my hands. 'Girls eat!' Kyuubi ordered them quietly as the shouting got closer to the entrance of the cave.

I looked at Kyuubi surprised. How did he know the two vulpix were girls? He spoke like he knew both of them. Like he was a disappointed parent chastising their naughty children for being fussy at dinner time.

My thoughts were distracted by a sudden stamping of feet and the filling of the small cave buy bodies.

'GO! GO! GO! GET IN and SHUT UP!' A soldier ordered as a whole squadron suddenly piled into the cave around the dying fire place. They all looked worse for wear in the dark. I could see some of them had torn clothing and bandages tightly wrapping them up in random spots. On some of them I could see blood through their bandages. The bandages looked like they had been applied and wrapped in a hurry.

Kyuubi clapped one of them on the shoulder in greeting when they entered. In this dull light I could see they had a different uniform to the Kalos soldiers that I had faced.

They all pointed their guns at me when they noticed that I was there.

I froze in place and frowned. I could feel my eye twitch in frustration. Being held at gun-point only pissed me off. I gritted my teeth and stayed in a crouched position next to the two vulpix.

The food in my fingers was eaten off my hands while I stayed still. We were all deadly quiet in the cave as shouting and stamping boots echoed from outside. Through the echoes of the stone walls of the cave, it sounded like they were passing over us.

It sounded like someone was shouting in French. The foot-steps got heavier and louder. Then they slowly faded away again. We all waited in silence for them to pass before an echo of clicks sounded in the cave, their guns were now cocked. Someone shone a torch in my face.

Brilliant! Just brilliant! I looked at Kyuubi's silhouette with a glare. I was not happy, and I made sure he felt it through our connection. I was now partially blind and seeing spots from the torch while also being held at gunpoint again. AGAIN! UGH!

'Name, Rank and Faction.' One of them said to me from the back of the group. It was the one that Kyuubi had clapped on the shoulder. I tried to look at him past the light of the torch. When my eyes found his they gave a bright flicker and glowed. Similar to how Will's had when he looked at me in the dark, except this one had blue eyes instead of violet eyes.

One of the others picked up my bag and started to go through it. He put a small torch in his mouth, and shone it into my bag while he dug through it. 'Doctor Milo Smith. Archeologist, No faction.' I responded to the soldier.

'Pet use your ID from the other world.' Kyuubi said in my head. He looked at me with a hard stare. I couldn't see Kyuubi's face but his eyes were glowing. I pointed to the bag that one of the soldiers was rummaging through. 'My ID is in the front pocket. Everything that you need to know is in there.' I said to them.

The soldier dug into the front pocket and pulled out my wallet from the banishment world. He then handed the bag to one of the other soldiers to go through. The one with my wallet opened it up and started to go through its contents. After a moment he took the torch out of his mouth. From the reflection of light from the torch that was in his mouth, I could see he was surprised. 'Major you will want to see this.' The soldier with my wallet said.

The one at the back with Kyuubi stepped forward with a frown and held his hand out. With the other torch not shining in my face I could see slightly better in the cave. Seven men, all in matching uniforms and similar hairstyles. Some more covered in blood and flesh wounds than others.

The Major had a very similar build to Hank. Maybe it was just a coincidence. I had been subconsciously comparing every attractive guy to Hank for a long time now. I wasn't attracted to this one but his stance and body movement had a striking resemblance to how Hank stood and moved.

The soldier put my ID cards in the Major's hands. The Major started to flick through the ID cards while someone else held up a small pen torch for him to read their contents.

There was a rustling sound next to my feet. I glanced down to see the skinny pair of Vulpix helping themselves to the chewy treats on the ground. They had torn the bag open more and spilled some treats into the sand. They were vigorously chewing on the treats. Both of them looked like they were drooling while they ate. I could only just hear a faint purring sound coming from them. Seeing that gave me a shred of happiness and hope.

'Men guard the entrance. I need a word with Doctor Smith alone.' The Major said to the group. They all silently lowered their guns and moved over to the entrance to guard it. The soldier who had been digging through my bag put my bag down on the sandy floor of the cave.

The Major stormed towards me and grabbed my upper arm with a tug. 'Come with me.' He said as he pointed his gun at me. He pulled me up to my feet from my crouched position.

I was dragged along by him with a silent frown. I was really getting sick of being held at gun-point. Kyuubi followed behind us. I looked back at Kyuubi. He had picked up my bag, PokeGear, the bag of treats and the two little vulpix in swift silence.

The air pressure in the cave changed and the temperature dropped. We turned a bend and were suddenly standing at another opening. We were on a ledge overlooking what looked like the edge of some very eroded, skinny mountains covered in trees. The ledge opened out onto a steep cliff that went down into a valley. The valley was full of a silver fog. There was a strange presence in this place that felt ancient. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I looked up at the sky. It was clear. There was a half moon this time. What trippy shit had I unknowingly sniffed? I didn't get close enough to the Salandit to start getting dizzy off their fumes. I specifically remember that the moon was full before Hank and I went to sleep. Then, just before, it was a new moon. Now, a half moon?

Also where was the volcano? The air was cold! It sent a shiver through me as I looked at the landscape. This was not Alola! Definitely not Alola.

Now what was it that Lee said the night I was kidnapped? Something happened in the portal back to the Pokemon world? Wait… Portals.

My thoughts were suddenly distracted again before I could continue that line of thought about portals.

'Qadan I ordered you to stay behind with Alph to hold the front line.' Major Williams said in a blunt and unamused voice. 'You did and that is exactly what I am doing right now.' Kyuubi said. 'It doesn't look like that is what you are doing Qadan!' The Major said through gritted teeth.

'Alph?... Kyuubi how does he know Alph?' I asked Kyuubi out loud.

'How do I know Alph? How do YOU know Alph?' Major Williams asked me with a glare as he held his gun up at my face with a frown. 'I'm not going to betray Alph by telling the likes of you. Get that damned gun out of my face. I am so sick of being held at gun-point!' I snapped at him. I punched his wrist up which caused him to drop his gun with a surprised shout.

Before I could follow up with another attack he grabbed me by the throat and salmed me back against the wall of the cave. I was so glad this was a smooth rock. It was still hard but it was smooth. I gave a cough when my back hit the rock. He held my throat and started to squeeze.

I saw his blue eyes flash again. What did that flicker mean? I only saw it when I connected on a psychic level. Was this guy psychic too?

'Sir!' Kyuubi snapped in an alarmed voice.

I kicked my foot up into the Major's crotch and then bucked both of my feet into his gut to send him back. He stumbled back with a cough. He didn't land back on his rear like I planned but he did let go. I fell down the slope of the wall and landed on my rump with a hard thud.

'Milo! Stop!' Kyuubi snapped at me.

I glared up at Kyuubi and slowly got up rubbing my butt. 'Sir are you alright?' Kyuubi asked the Major. 'I will be when she is out of my sight.' He said with gritted teeth. I looked like I hurt him. Good!

'Trust me the feeling is mutual. It really sucks that you look so much like my husband.' I retorted with a sneer.

'Milo shut it!' Kyuubi snapped at me again. I clenched my jaw going quiet for now. There was a certain gravity in Kyuubi's words at that precise second that I couldn't ignore. 'We don't have a lot of time before my spell wears off and the others wake up again. We need to get you back before any of them wake up.' Kyuubi said to me in a stern voice in my direction. 'You won't be going anywhere Qadan. You have explaining to do.' The Major said to Kyuubi with a glare.

'What is my business is my business but if you kill this woman here or detain her in this time line then you are going to screw up the whole space-time continuum through multiple realms.' Kyuubi said to him with a strained voice. 'But you brought her here. Who is she? One of my ancestors? You have only ever stood by my family for as long as our history has been recorded!' The Major said in a tone that hinted a mix of confusion and anger.

Kyuubi didn't answer him verbally. He put the two vulpix down with their bag of treats. The vulpix happily helped themselves to more chewy treats. The poor things must have been so hungry. Hopefully they didn't over do it and make themselves sick by eating too much too fast. Luckily the treats were as the packet said. "Extra Chewy!"

Kyuubi opened my bag and took out an aluminium foil wrapped package. He tossed it to the Major. The Major opened it up and looked at it shocked. 'This is Iris' special love cakes. She only makes these for weddings. Why do you have her love cakes?' The Major asked me.

'Because I was the bride.' I said in a plain tone. 'But I don't know who you are. Iris only makes these for people we know, when it is their wedding.' The Major said. I clenched my jaw shut as I looked at him. We looked at each other in silence for a moment before I opened my mouth again. 'What is Iris to you?' I asked him.

'She is my wife.' He answered coldly.

My eyes went wide and I leant back against the wall as I looked at him. I could feel my head spin a little. I stumbled back and leant against the cave wall while I looked at him. A shiver ran down my spine before tingling all the way back up again.

'M-Major Frederick Williams?' I asked him in a quiet voice, clearly shocked. 'What is my Iris to you?' He asked me with a glare. I wasn't sure that he had heard me address him by the name that Hank had told me. 'M-mother-in-law…' I said barely above a whisper.

Major Williams looked at me confused. 'Clyde? He isn't even sixteen yet!' The Major said, now suddenly pissed off. 'Sir wait…' I said in a rush before trailing off. I swallowed back hard and shook my head at him. 'Not to Clyde…' I said quietly.

'Hank? The boy is only ten! Pedophile!' Major Williams drew his other gun on me. His first gun was on the stone floor of the cave where he dropped it.

Kyuubi stepped between us. 'Stop!' Kyuubi said in a desperate tone. 'WHAT QADAN?' The Major snapped.

'She is the same age as Hank. In fact he is seven months older than her.' Kyuubi said in my defense. 'What are you talking about?' the Major asked. He slowly lowered his gun. His attention was now on Kyuubi.

I could see Kyuubi's shoulders shifting under his jumpsuit. He opened up his jumpsuit and pulled it down off his torso before tying it around his waist. Kyuubi stepped back into the moonlight to show off his now exposed chest. Kyuubi was covered in scars. Scars that were much easier seen in the moonlight than in the sunlight. The moonlight reflected from Kyuubi's fair skin tone much better than the raw sunlight did.

'I don't recognise those extra scars.' The Major said quietly before he put his gun away. He was looking at Kyuubi with a frown. Major Fredrick was still tense but he wasn't looking at me like I was a threat now.

The Major looked at me with his bright blue eyes. A sheen of light crossed his eyes again as he looked at me. I could hear his voice but his lips were not moving. 'I understand now. You are from the future…' I heard him say in my mind.

'Yes we both are. We are here on a rescue mission.' Kyuubi said as he looked down at the two small vulpix. They had eaten just enough for their small stomachs to distend beyond their frail little rib cages. 'Did you just stop them from dying? You know what that will do to the time-line!' The major said with a groan as he looked back to Kyuubi.

'No, because no one saw them die. They were not dead when they were abandoned in the cave. Originally you never found their bodies either. I always went back and saved them. This isn't the first time I have come back here to do this. But this is the first time that you didn't kill your son's new wife. This will be a successful mission. One that will aid in winning our war. I couldn't succeed without Milo's help. I needed her to open the portals.' Kyuubi said with a grimace.

'Well THANKS Kyuubi! I trusted you! Bring me here knowing that if one alteration happened in the mission that would go wrong that I would be KILLED! That's all good and fine for you though. You probably have some secret reset button you can press to start over until you get it right!' I said to him through gritted teeth.

Kyuubi looked at me shocked before he stepped over to me. He cupped my face in his hands. 'My pet please be calm. You can still trust me. I did not bring you here to hurt you. I brought you here to save you.' He said with a soft whimper. He looked hurt. I had genuinely hurt him with my words. 'Save me?' I asked Kyuubi quietly.

'Pet?' The Major asked with a quirked brow. He had spoken up louder than me. 'You are her familiar? Why? Why aren't you still my familiar? Did you abandon me?' The Major asked with a glare in Kyuubi's direction.

I looked at Kyuubi with narrowed eyes. 'Is this the version where you die Kyuubi?' I asked him in a dark sarcastic tone. I wasn't happy with Kyuubi, much like Major Williams. The Major looked like he wanted to skin the fox.

Kyuubi rolled his eyes at me before looking at the Major with a frown. 'We can't tell him that he dies on Hank's eleventh birthday sweet pet.' Kyuubi echoed to me in my mind.

I looked away sadly.

Major Williams would be killed in combat soon. On Hank's eleventh birthday. I gave a shudder as a cold chill went down my spine again. I could feel tears prickle in my eyes while I looked away. If that was true then the Major only had months, maybe weeks before he would be killed in combat.

'I see…' He said in a tone of finality. I looked at Major Williams with a frown. 'Were you just in my head?' I asked him quietly. 'I AM a psychic. I also successfully raised an Alakazam on my own. Not many psychics had the patience, capacity or the wits to do that.' The Major pointed out to me. He crossed his arms over his chest while he looked at me. His eyes were glowing blue.

'Kyuubi keeps your oath with the most seriousness I've ever seen.' I said quietly. The silence between us got heavy. 'Since he knows I will let you talk. Don't give him too much information, just enough for him to know his fighting will be worth it.' Kyuubi said to me in my head.

'My family…' The Major said quietly with a frown. He just found out in my head that he dies on his youngest son's birthday, but his biggest concern is that his family are still protected. I admired his dedication. No wonder Hank still idolized him.

I looked at the Major with a sad smile. 'Your family is safe and well. Mrs Williams never loses the fire in her eyes or the grit in the guts. Clyde has a little girl. Cecilia. She is a genius. Janice is a world-wide Pokemon battle champion and Hank is the safest place I have ever known. We are all so proud of you.' I said as I felt a tear escape my eyes while I watched him.

He watched me before smirking that same cheeky smirk that Hank does when he gets a wicked idea.

I tensed up at his expression. 'What… are you thinking?' I asked him suddenly weary. Major Frederick laughed at my reaction. 'You must know Hank very well if you know that this face means something interesting is going to happen. Woman I am a soldier. I signed up to this knowing full well that I would most likely die doing my sworn duty to protect my region and my family. It is an honour to meet my replacement in the family.' He said with a wicked smile.

I could only narrow my eyes at him. 'Replace you in the family? What do you mean?' I asked him. Kyuubi sighed and looked at me. 'The Williams always had at least one psychic person in the family. Someone who was strong enough to be my familiar while they were alive.' Kyuubi explained as he looked at me.

'Why?' I asked.

Sure it was a simple enough question. The Major and Kyuubi exchanged a glance. 'A William's woman did me a very large favour when I was just a vulpix kit. I owed her a life debt. I vowed to never let a part of her come to harm while I was still alive. Little did I know that the vow could be interpreted to extend to her future offspring and their children for ever and ever. Technically they are a part of her and I vowed to protect all of her.' Kyuubi explained.

I looked down at my feet while I processed this. I looked at Kyuubi with a furrowed brow. 'Umm, then maybe you shouldn't have chosen me to be your familiar.' I said quietly. 'Why not?' Major Williams asked.

'I'm sterile.' I said to him bluntly. The Major looked at me shocked for a moment before he frowned. 'I'm sorry.' He responded. 'You don't have to be. You didn't force it upon me.' I said before sighing heavily.

'Qadan said something about saving your life from a war. Does this war not end after I die?' The Major asked. I looked at him with a furrowed brow. 'It ends. There are enough crops grown next year that the people are fed enough to stop the fighting over supplies.' Kyuubi responded to the Major.

'Then… what is your war about?' The Major asked. 'Money. From what I have been told by an agent representative, the war is being funded by several major global corporations who would benefit greatly from a war. We still haven't found out who is behind it, but as a result of the pot being stirred, any politician who has openly objected to the global unrest has been assassinated along with many champion Pokemon fighters. It's a nightmare and it hasn't even officially started yet.' I said with a groan.

Major Williams looked at me surprised. 'The Council of Regions has allowed this to happen?' He asked a little dumbfounded. 'I suspect someone in the Council of regions is responsible. I am acting as an independent party while playing bodyguard to Janice in Kalos.' Kyuubi answered Major Williams.

The Major scratched the stubble on his chin with a thoughtful hum. 'You have taken measurements to protect yourselves?' The Major asked thoughtfully. 'I have started to make preparations for the worst. I've taught my venomoth how to teleport and will soon teach this also to my chansey and slowpoke. I accidentally found the perfect hiding place. I was looking for the location, but I would never have found it without the help of a local pokemon. The place I had been searching for was just a rumour. A very well hidden rumour.' I responded to him.

The Major looked at me curiously. I opened my mind to his. His blue eyes started to glow again.

I showed him the small valley, the dratini pool, and the caves that the aerodactyl flock had flown out of. I showed him the surrounding area, how that small patch of paradise was perfectly hidden by a rough rocky shelf. I remembered the effort we had to make to get up the rocky slopes to only need to climb down them in rock climbing gear.

'Where is this?' The Major asked me. 'The far end of the Kanto Safari Zone. On the other side of the forest that is infested with man-eating victreebel.' I responded with a shrug. 'How do you know they are man-eating?' The Major asked me.

I could only smirk at that question. I showed him the memory of when I found Triffid up the tree. How he was covered in blood splatters and had a blood encrusted shoelace stuck on the corner of his mouth.

'That is how I know.' I said quietly. 'How did you get away?' The Major asked me. 'Get away? Triffid is one of my best pokemon. I fought him and caught him myself.' I responded with a scoff.

The Major looked at me with narrowed eyes. He looked me up and down a few times. 'You don't look crazy... ' He said slowly. 'I'm not. I just have MAJOR anger issues. It's amazing I'm not dead yet. Speaking of not dead yet where are we?' I suddenly asked.

My train of thought and topic changed when a chilling wind blew into the cave. This made me shiver and look out to the scenery again.

Tall thin mountains that looked like they were eroding away quickly with the wind and the rain over time. They looked magical in the dim silver light.

'We are in the banishment world. I come here when I need a break. The local monks call it Ching Chiu, or Green Mountain. This place hasn't got any technology. The most advanced thing they have is gun powder and they use it mostly for light shows.' He said with a shrug.

'Sounds like you come to a place in time that is a couple thousand years before I get birthed. At least that is my educated guess. It could easily be three or four thousand years before my birth.' I said casually. The Major gave me a questioning glance.

'Milo is from the Banishment world.' Kyuubi said, answering one of his silent questions. 'That is most fascinating. My family is originally from here as well. We hail from the land of the Angles, Saxons and Celts.' Major Williams said to me with a grin. Then he frowned as he looked at me.

'How did you know about the rumour of the dratini pool in the far end of the Safari zone?' The Major asked me as he looked at me. 'I come from a time here, where Pokemon is a game and cartoon… umm anime franchise. Somehow the knowledge of Pokemon was leaked to the banishment world and someone is making a lot of money in royalties from it. Pokemon the franchise has a lot of fans and those fans have a lot of theories. Those theories are not just limited to Pokedex entries, but the geography of the regions and even the private lives of some of the game and show characters. Some of those theories gravitating around Champion Red, Professor Samuel Oak and the leader of Team Rocket. I was a huge fan of the franchise. I watched the movies, and the shows, and played the games.' I admitted with a sheepish grin.

Major Williams looked at me fascinated before Kyuubi cleared his throat. 'I really need to get Milo back to Hank. My spell is soon to run out and it is the first and only night of her honeymoon.' Kyuubi said as he looked at the Major.

Major Frederick Williams frowned and then gave a nod. He picked up his gun from the cave floor and holstered it on his hip again. Then he did something I was not expecting. He held his elbow out for me and petted the inside of his arm for me.

I curiously stepped over to him and rested my hand in the crook of his elbow. 'You should go now. Like Kyuubi says. We don't want to alter too many things or the consequences could be drastic.' He said in a strained voice. 'This is just a loop sir. You always meet Milo like this. This is only the first time that you didn't kill her. In her time Hank wakes up, she is gone and declared missing, the war starts and… it gets worse from there.' Kyuubi said in a glum tone.

I clenched my jaw a little. The thought of Hank thinking that I would just leave him like that. It made my chest hurt a little. 'I just hope this changes things for the better.' I said with a sigh as I shook my head.

Kyuubi picked up the bag of treats and put them into my backpack. He then zipped it up and put it back on his back. 'It does my pet. This helps a lot of things.' Kyuubi reassured me. Kyuubi then picked up the two vulpix and cuddled them to his chest. They snuggled into him and licked his neck weakly with little purrs.

I couldn't help but feel like there was a greater cost to all of this. I gave a heavy sigh as Major Williams started to lead me back into the depths of the cave.

We walked around a corner away from the cold wind. The air pressure changed again to a heavier hotter air. We followed the bend of the cave and came back to the fire place. Someone had stoked it back up again.

The squadron looked like they had been waiting for a few hours for us. In the fire I could see that they had used their old bandages to keep the fire going for light. There were two of them posted at the entrance of the cave. The rest were sitting on the sand around the fire.

All of them looked back at us when we came into view again.

'Major?' One of them asked. He looked like he was the team medic. He had a bag with a green cross stitched onto it. His hat also had a green cross on it. Next to him stood a blissey that had been smeared all over in mud and charcoal. Probably to help with camouflage.

'Its ok Men. She is one of us. Dr Milo Smith is an agent for the Council of Regions when she isn't busy being an Archeologist. She is from the Kanto-Johto faction.' Major Williams said calmly to the group. They all visibly relaxed and offered me tired smiles.

'How did you know that the Council of the Regions were using me as an Agent?' I asked loudly in my thoughts. I wasn't sure if he would hear me or not. 'I didn't but I do now.' Major Williams echoed back to me in my thoughts as he looked at me sideways with a smirk. His blue eyes were giving a bright glow.

'Doctor we need to go.' Kyuubi said as he held a hand out to me. He used his other hand and arm to hold the two vulpix to himself. 'One thing before I go Kyuubi, turn around.' I said to him with a smile.

Kyuubi gave me an odd look but turned his back to me. I walked over to him and unzipped my bag. I dug in my bag and started to take out the foil wrapped packages that Hank and I had packed in there. Hank had the rest of our food, and it was still more than what we needed on this trip. I filled my arm with foil packages, accidentally dropping some of them before zipping my bag up again. I turned and faced the soldiers again. I walked over to the fire and put the packages down next to the fire.

'This is for you. All of you. There is more than I can eat here.' I said to all of them, looking around. One of them licked their lips in anticipation of food. Major Williams stepped forward and opened up the foil package that he still had. It was full of small cakes that were a cross between pancakes and cupcakes. Major Williams walked around so everyone could take one before he stopped at me to take one. He also took one and then turned to the rest of his soldiers and held up the small sweet cake.

'Men in honour of our esteemed agent and to congratulate her on her wedding, that happened just yesterday; I would like to toast her and her lucky husband for a bright future together. We don't have wine but we have my wife's yummy love cakes and all of these treats that are left over from the wedding. Doctor Milo Smith to your future.' Major Williams said with a cheeky smile as he held up his cake to me. 'To Doctor Milo Smith!' The others echoed.

I held up my sweet love cake also and kept it there. The men went to eat theirs but paused then they saw my hand still high. 'I have one thing to toast. Its for all of you. For your honour, diligence and patience. Your efforts to protect Kanto and Johto have proved fruitful. This year our crops were successful and soon, at harvest time, the famine will be over and the war can end. To a victory over starvation and the hope that bitter ties with enemies can be healed to become something better. To you all. Thank you. To Victory!' I said to all of them.

They all wore serious expressions while I spoke. By the end of my short speech they were all smiling. 'To Victory!' They all echoed. We all took a bite from our cakes. I chewed a few times before swallowing. The Soldiers started picking up the silver foil packets and opening them up to share the food between themselves.

I quickly ate the rest of the sweet fluffy love cake. I only just noticed that they had a gooey chocolate sauce centre in them mixed with a swirl of custard cream. They tasted so good.

Again I was distracted from my thoughts by Kyuubi clearing his throat and looking at me. He nodded pointedly at the cave exit. 'Did you need an escort back to your check point?' Major Williams asked me. 'No thank you Major. Eat with the rest of the squad, save some for those on the front line. See you the next time fate crosses our paths.' Kyuubi answered for me.

'Men stand at attention!' The Major ordered. Immediately every soldier in the cave stood up tall and faced me. Major Williams saluted me and held salute. The rest of the men followed his lead and copied his action. I straightened up and then returned the salute. All of our salutes dropped at the same time.

'Doctor Smith, safe travels home. Until we meet again. Thank you for restoring our morale and giving us a light at the end of the tunnel.' Major Williams said by way of a parting greeting. 'Likewise Major. I am glad I could lift your spirits on my mission out here. Men enjoy your meal. Keep fighting for our lives. The war is not over yet and a heroes welcome will be there for you at home when it is all done.' I said to the Major and then everyone else.

I turned and walked out of the cave without looking back. Kyuubi followed me out to the cove. 'Men as you were! Eat and rest. We move out in an hour to relieve the front line!' Major Williams' voice declared behind me as I left.

I started to climb the slope back up onto the side of the volcano. Kyuubi followed behind me until there was room for him to walk next to me. He stepped up alongside me and took my hand. He lead me in the right direction, back to the loop of rock on the side of the slope.

Kyuubi smiled a little in the dark and lead me around the loop before walking back through it the way that we had entered.

The landscape was suddenly brighter again. I looked up to see the full moon glowing down at me and brightening up the night's landscape. I smiled a little. We were back again. Kyuubi lead me slowly back to Hank.

'Milo we need to talk before you go back down there. You can't tell Hank that you know my girls are alive. Hank thinks they are dead.' Kyuubi said to me. 'Ok so how are you planning on playing this one so it doesn't link back to me?' I asked him.

'I'm going to make it look like they got into your backpack and tore the treats open in the sand while you were sleeping. I will leave them both with you. You will also need to release them from their new pokeballs and leave them open in the sand like they accidentally caught themselves but then broke out. One more thing…' Kyuubi said as he looked at me sideways.

'What else?' I asked him. Kyuubi gave a smirk. 'You will need to get naked again. Hank fell asleep with both of you cuddling in the nude. It would raise too many questions if you were suddenly dressed again.' Kyuubi said to me in his deep smooth voice.

I could feel myself blushing before I gave a sigh. 'I will release the girls when we get there. I just have a question… who are they Kyuubi? Or do i call you Qadan now?' I asked him.

'Only call me Qadan when we are in private. That is the name my mother gave me, but the name that the Williams know me by is Kyuubi. The two vulpix are my daughters. Their mothers died in the war a week after they were born. I had a small pack of two mates. A fire ninetales and an Alolan ice ninetales. I protected the two eggs until they hatched. Major Williams then sent the two girls to Clyde, Janice and Hank to protect. Clyde, Janice and Hank did a brilliant job of protecting them but… there was no food to feed them. All of them almost starved to death at one point, it's just that the girls didn't recover well enough to get better.' Kyuubi said to me quietly while we walked down the slope.

'What are their names?' I asked him. Kyuubi chuckled. He seemed amused by that question. 'Let Hank answer that one. He is going to get quite a shock when he wakes up to the mess these two are going to make.' Kyuubi said with a cheeky wink and a smirk.

I gave an uncertain hum as I looked at him. 'You don't trust me any more do you?' He asked me quietly. I furrowed my brow at that question. 'I think I trust you more now Qadan. You dragged me along to take a leap of faith with you… but I can see why you needed to do that. If you had of told me before-hand what would happen I would have messed it all up.' I admitted to him.

Kyuubi grinned brightly before leaning across to me. He pecked me on the lips while we walked. I bit my lower lip before glaring at him. I could feel my cheeks burning. 'I feel like I'm cheating on Hank when you do that.' I said to him. Kyuubi shrugged and grinned more. 'I'm your familiar, it is good for us to keep a strong bond.' Kyuubi said calmly. 'Sure… Do you plan on showing Hank that you can turn into a person or is that something you will only do around me when we are alone?' I asked him.

Kyuubi gave me a wicked smile and then looked away to act innocent. 'This physical form is for your eyes only. I only used it around the Major's soldiers because most of them were destined to die anyway, so it didn't matter. I might make an exception though if Hank decides to be like Clyde and let his wife fool around without him under certain conditions. I wouldn't be opposed to that.' Kyuubi said in a playful tone.

'I can't tell if you are joking or serious.' I retorted. Kyuubi grabbed me just as my foot slipped. He held me steady before letting me go again. 'I am perfectly serious. Hank has a wild streak. If he felt like you could handle it he would probably bring you into the wild world of lust with him.' Kyuubi said calmly.

Kyuubi flashed me a memory of Hank and another woman. Not just another woman though, a whole group of them. All naked together and all of them engaged in an act I had never been brave enough to do myself. The memory was gone as soon as it was shown.

'Are you trying to tell me that he is cheating on me with some secret harem he put together?' I asked Kyuubi with a glare. Kyuubi gave me a deadpan look before looking away. 'I didn't say anything of the sort. You are smart Milo. You should know your best friend better than anyone else. Do you think Hank is capable of doing anything like that to you?' Kyuubi asked me.

I gave a sigh and frowned. 'Honestly… I think he could. There were a few of his ex girlfriends he cheated on and he was always going to places with groups of people for wild parties. Parties I avoided like the black plague. But at the same time I think he was serious when he said he wasn't going to force me to do anything with him that I wasn't ready for. He might be perverted and scandalous… but he isn't a rapist.' I admitted to Kyuubi.

I felt a pang of pain in my chest. If Kyuubi had that memory of Hank, then Hank had gone and done something like that since we had come here. He had done it while we were officially a couple. I hoped it wasn't a real memory and just Kyuubi's imagination.

Kyuubi squeezed my hand and gave a sad sigh. 'Come, there are good things waiting for you.' Kyuubi said to me softly.

Kyuubi led me back into the cove. All of our Pokemon were asleep. Those who were not asleep were in a daze staring at blue will-o-wisp like flames. That must have been the spell that Kyuubi had cast.

I released the two vulpix from their premier balls and then got undressed again. I cuddled myself back into Hank's arms. I let Kyuubi do what he needed to do to get ready and make it look like the two starving vulpix had found us at random.

'I will see you again at Route Eight. Sleep deeply. Sleep well. Don't think, just sleep.' Qadan's voice echoed in my mind before the blackness of my subconscious took over. I fell asleep in Hank's arms again. Tears slipped from my eyes as I fell asleep.


	33. Chapter 33

Author's notes.

This was another tricky chapter to piece together. To everyone who was waiting for this, thank you for your patience.

The four fossils that Hank bought from the Mega Mart in a previous chapter, I used an 8 sided die to determine which fossils were available for purchase. Since Milo already has a dome and a helix fossil and the amber is not available in Alola I numbered the rest of the fossils from one to eight.

Root fossil (Lileep)

Claw fossil (Anorith)

Skull fossil (Cranidos)

Armor fossil (Shieldon)

Plume fossil (Archen)

Cover fossil (Tirtouga)

Jaw fossil (Tyrunt)

Sail fossil (Amaura)

To see the results of these dice rolls please continue to read the chapter!

I would also like to apologise. I have incorrectly sized the fossils in my story to be much smaller than they are actually depicted in the anime series and what you see in the manga. The Pokemon fossils in my story are smaller in size due to the fact that the fossils that I imagine would be affordable to buy in gift shops would be from baby/ younger pokemon. (hence why they are much smaller) The same with the fossils that Milo found in the rocks at the dratini pool. There will be larger and more adult sized fossils later in the story. For anyone who noticed this I am sorry. For anyone who didn't notice this… thank you for your continued support.

Resources

Nixie Water spirit:

/mythical-creatures/nix/

Amala Name meaning:

meaning-of-amala

Usha Name meaning:

baby-names/name/usha/

Suggestions that the Chinese gained knowledge of the fox spirits through Sanskrit texts (and similar such texts) and possibly used that knowledge against them.

Insert quoted from "**The Cult of the fox: Power, Gender, and popular religion in the late imperial and modern China**" _Xiaofei Kang._

Page 30 - 31 ~ Chapter: Foxes in Early Chinese Tradition.

"_Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756) granted extreme prestige to three foreign Yantric masters, Subhakarasimha, Vajrabodhi, and Amoghavajra, who dedicated their lives to translating voluminous Sanskrit texts into Chinses, performing Tantric rites, and presiding over mass Tantric ordinations. He also encouraged frequent court competitions between Indian Tantric masters and Chinese Daoist thaumaturges in order to test their magical spells and esoteric skills. These competitions highlighted the native roots of Daoism and the foreign origin of Tantrism and therefore reinforced the barbarian associations of this buhdist school._

_Foreign monks who master esoteric skills through their knowledge of Sanskrit texts found parallels in Tang fox stories. Many of the tales report that foxes were masters of a secret learning recorded mysterious foreign books. A certain Zhang Jianqi, who encounters a fox reading books in a graveyard, steals one out of curiosity, only to discover that the papers, the inks, and the style of the fox's book are all the same as in regular books, but the fox script is impossible to understand. In another instance hunter Lin sees an old man in a graveyard holding a scroll in his hands. After he kills the man, who is in fact a fox, Lin finds that the scroll is a book, dozens of feet long, made of white silk. "It had very strange strokes and looked like indian script, but was not written in indian characters." The same impression about fox books is also given in the story of Wang Sheng, who finds a book lost by two foxes. It is written in Indian-like script, and Wang is not able to read it._

_The correspondence between foxes and barbarian religions also explains why in many tales foxes appear as buddhas, bodhisattvas, or foreign buddhist monks, even though they were condemned as fakes by Daoist and Chinese Buddhists. Certain Tang tales with Daoist overtones state explicitly that foregn monks and foxes are interchangeable identities. One story recounts that during Xuanzong's Kaiyuan reign (714 - 741), an aristocrat found that a Brahman monk was leading all the female members of his family into an ecstatic state. They piously followed this "Brahman monk" in reciting Buddah's name and performing Buhhdits rituals. The man resorted to the famous Daoist master Ye Fashan (636-720) for help. Ye was able to determine that the Brahman monk was actually a celestial fox, and he wrote a charm for the man, who used it to wake the women from ecstasy and deliver the monk to Master Ye. Due to Ye's superior power, the monk dropped his robe to the floor and turned into a fox. After punishing him with a thousand blows, Master Ye returned his robe, watched him change from a fox back into a Brahman monk, and exiled him a thousand miles away."_

Black Lightning Chapter 33

Something brushed along my cheek. I gave a groan and swatted at it thinking it was a fly. A familiar and amused chuckle broke the quiet over the sound of waves. I felt something on my cheek again. I went to swat at it but my hand was caught. I felt a kiss get pressed onto my knuckles.

'Milo, time to wake up…' I heard Hank whisper. I groaned and blinked myself awake, frowning as my eyes slowly adjusted. 'Hank…?' I asked before blinking my eyes into focus.

Hank was laying next to me, smirking while he watched me. 'How was your first night as Mrs Williams?' He asked me. I felt a chuckle rise in my throat. 'I don't know. I don't remember any of my dreams.' I said to him. Hank smirked and bopped me on the nose. 'Maybe because you are living your dreams now.' Hank said to me teasingly. 'You are right. I always wanted to come to the Pokemon world.' I said to him teasingly.

In all honesty I felt sick in the pit of my stomach. I remembered everything last night, including that short memory of Hank with that group of other women. I was almost instantly distracted by something else though.

Hank laughed and rolled so he was pressed down on top of me and his lips took mine captive. He kissed me slowly and deeply. I did my best to kiss him back. I was glad that I was an awkward and terrible kisser or Hank would have known that something was troubling me. I could feel myself blush mid kiss. Hank was pressed against me and there was nothing between us.

He broke the kiss with a triumphant smirk as he looked down at me. 'You weren't expecting that?' He asked me. I gave a cough and felt myself blush more. 'No I wasn't! I was expecting a face full of cream pie or something, like last time.' I said up to him.

Damn his body felt good on mine…

Hank rolled his eyes as he looked down at me. 'You weren't my wife then, just my best friend. As my best friend I felt entitled to prank you in any way as I saw fit because… damn woman you know how to get me with a good prank when I least expect it.' Hank said with a laugh and a smile down to me.

I laughed a little with him. Hank traced his fingers along my cheek while he looked at me with soft eyes.

I knew he had the potential to cheat on me and fool around… but I also knew that even if he did do that, (and it did hurt) he would still keep coming back to me. Hank loved me the most. Even if he had made a hobby of going and hooking up with other women. Even when he was dating several other women at once (without them knowing of course) he always came over to where ever I was at night and crashed with me to escape their dramatic needs.

I decided then that when I got the courage to let him take my V card I wouldn't be giving him a chance to go and play around. I was going to make sure that I occupied all of his thoughts. Hank and I had too strong of a friendship for me to dump him because of his own fornication, especially right after we got married.

Deep down Hank was mine. I knew this much at least. He was just very open minded and very happy to get lucky as many times as possible. Even while in a serious relationship. I would not have been surprised at all if some of Hank's old mistresses were looking for him because he had some bastard child with them as a result of all of his frolicing.

'You look like you are very deep in thought. What are you thinking?' He asked me softly. He continued to stroke my cheek while he watched me. 'I'm trying to think of how I could possibly blow your mind when I'm a terrible kisser. I want to be your best on every level. So good that you forget all of your exes and mistresses and anyone else you have fooled around with in the past.' I admitted to him as I looked into his eyes. For now I was only going to admit the half truth of my thoughts.

Hank chuckled and rubbed his body against mine playfully. 'Are you saying that you want me to make you a woman on this beach right here?' He asked me with a smirk. I felt my cheeks start to burn again.

Before I could answer something else caught his eye. His attention was very suddenly elsewhere. 'What the hell happened while we were asleep?' Hank asked as he quickly got off me.

I sat up to see the mess. Boy was there a mess!

My bag had been unzipped and left open, the bags of treats had been dragged out onto the sand and torn to pieces. The treats from the torn bags lay everywhere! Like the bags had exploded when they were ripped in half. It looked like almost all of the contents of my bag had been pulled out and dragged out everywhere as well. The two premier balls that I had caught the two vulpix in lay open on the sand. A trail of treats led to a pile of rocks not far away. At the end of the trail was half of an exploded bag of treats. It lay pinned under a small stack of sand and a few stray treats.

'Another salandit?' I asked Hank. Hank frowned and shrugged. He quietly followed the trail before stopping and looking shocked. 'What is it?' I asked him. Hank didn't answer me. He looked like he had gone into shock. Hank was suddenly pale and a sweat was starting to show on his brow.

I got up and walked over to him. I looked behind the pile of rocks where Hank was looking. The two scrawny vulpix were asleep behind the rocks. Their little bellies were distended and popping. It looked like they had eaten more while Hank and I were sleeping. Kyuubi was right, they did make a mess. At least they knew how to fake a desperate food raid like wild animals. Deep down I was impressed by how well they knew how to cover their tracks and make it look like a simple, desperate attempt to raid some unsuspecting trainers of their resources.

All of our other Pokemon seemed to be asleep still. (Possibly from Kyuubi's sleep charm or spell or whatever it was he used to make them all sleep while he and I were busy walking around through space and time) Yesterday had been a very big day for all of our pokemon. I looked out to the water. The sun hadn't risen yet, but it was close to it. My Magikarp and Horsea must have been sleeping under the surface of the water.

I really should put some time aside to name the rest of my Pokemon. I should also actually train them for the war that was about to start. Triffid, Odd and Scout were possibly the best prepared out of all of my monsters. I needed to fix that. It wasn't going to be easy though. I was very time poor right now and needed to make many other arrangements in the mean-time. I was going to need a whole lot of luck.

I looked at Hank again. He was staring at the sleeping pair of vulpix with his jaw almost hitting the sand under his feet. 'Hank?' I asked him quietly. Hank slowly looked at me. The expression of shock still on his face. 'But… but… but!' He stuttered to me. 'What?' I asked him.

'They… they died!' Hank said as I saw his blue eyes start to fill with tears. He looked very confused. The trauma of him thinking they had died in this cove must have really haunted him. I looked down at the pair of sleeping vulpix. One of them gave a sigh and rolled over on their back before purring in their sleep.

'They don't look dead. They look malnourished, underweight and unloved to me. But not dead.' I said to Hank calmly. Hank didn't respond. He looked like he was still processing everything. 'Are you ok?' I asked him with a concerned frown. 'I… I… I... ' Hank muttered before he grinned wide. Tears started to stream from his eyes. 'They are alive! Milo! They didn't die!' He said before he grabbed me in a tight hug.

I hugged him back. Hank started to cry into my shoulder. This discovery must have been too big for him to properly cope with mentally. His sobs filled my ears. I knew those sobs. I heard them last night from one of the people fleeing the cove with Will. That must have been Hank!

Hank had mentioned that Will had joined him and his siblings on their little adventures during the war. He had also mentioned that Will was his brother in arms. They must have gone through much more than just little adventures. They would have faced life, death and every ugly thing in between together.

I hugged Hank tighter while his tears wet my shoulder. The tears trailed down over my shoulder blade, and down my back. Hank held onto me before I felt his lips brush against the nape of my neck. 'Milo… I'm so happy I don't know what to do.' He whispered into my neck. I could only smile a little.

'Let them sleep in. They looked exhausted. When they wake up, we will see if it really is them.' I said to him quietly. 'It's them Milo! Look…' Hank said as he let me go to look back at them. He pointed at the pair of them.

'See Amala has a piece of her ear missing…' He pointed at the ice Vulpix before pointed to the fire vulpix, who was on her back snoring. '... and Usha has one tail half the length of the others. It was bitten off in combat.' Hank said to me as he pointed out their very definitive physical flaws that would make them identifiable by anyone who knew them or was looking for them.

It was little details like that, that helped the police to find missing persons. Strange and unique things like a tattoo or a series of piercings on the body. Even a mole or a birthmark would do it. These two vulpix had their own identifiable scars from war. I could see that Hank had no doubt in his mind that these two were the two that he had left at this cove all those years ago. He knew it was them. I was just glad there were no clues around that linked me to bringing them back here with Kyuubi.

'Amala and Usha?' I asked Hank with a quirked brow. 'Dad named them. He said that Amala meant "the pure one" and Usha means "daybreak" or "dawn." I could never find their meanings in this world though.' Hank said with a furrowed brow. 'Maybe there is a reason for that. Those names sound suspiciously Sanskrit to me. Some of the early recordings of the fox spirits were in Sanskrit, or at least translated from it if memory serves me correctly. Your dad was a psychic so maybe he got the names from their mothers?' I suggested to Hank.

Hank gave a thoughtful hum. 'Are you suggesting that the ninetales here and the multi tailed fox spirits in the history of the banishment world are the same thing?' Hank asked me. 'It's just a hunch right now. But it would explain a lot of things. Like how the Pokemon World and the Banishment World have links between them. For example, many of the Banishment world myths line up with a lot of the Pokemon in this world. Maybe that isn't a coincidence?' I pointed out to Hank.

Hank scratched his chin before nodding and looking at me. 'You make a very good point…' Hank slowly trailed off. I could see his eyes run down my body. He had no problems looking at every exposed part of me. I could feel myself start to blush again.

My mind flicked a switch into silent panic mode while Hank clearly enjoyed looking at my naked body. 'Should we start making breakfast for everyone and get ready for our long ride to route eight?' I asked Hank as I turned and walked away from him quickly. 'Oh! HEY! I'm allowed to look as much as I like!' Hank said to me with a laugh.

I could only respond with a very nervous laugh.

He saw through my suggestion instantly. He could also probably tell that I wasn't quite coping with being so exposed, or with being stared at so much. It was flattering but my mental scars were really ruining the mood. I needed to distract myself to calm down again. Seducing Hank for a romantic night was going to be more difficult than I thought.

Stupid mental scars.

Stupid quirks.

Stupid sexual abuse ruining what could have been the most romantic and steamy night of my life!

UGH!

Why did I have to freak out like this on my honeymoon? I should have been enjoying myself with my new husband! Not squirreling my way out of intimacy and affection like a rabid animal.

Right now… I hate myself for this.

I bent down to start picking up my clothes. I separated my underwear from my other clothes first and shook them out to get the sand out of them. 'Oh NO! Nuh-uh! Not yet. I'm still basking in the beauty of my wife!' Hank said with a laugh as he came behind me to hug me when I stood up straight again. Hank's arms loosely wrapped around my midsection while he hugged me.

'Basking huh? How about we get all of our chores done and then go and buy our house where you can be the king and bask as much as you want without me getting self conscious because there are extra eyes on this beach.' I said to him over my shoulder. I was doing my best to calm down.

Looking forward to a future where I might be able to settle in and actually accept intimacy from Hank might have been a desperate attempt at a distraction. Especially from the very obvious poking I was receiving in my glutes, but it was (in my mind) a practical reason to not get frisky on the beach in front of all the baby pokemon!

Hank chuckled and rubbed my belly. He lightly bit the side of my neck. 'Do we have to? Can't we have some fun first?' He asked me in a whimpered voice. 'Fun?' I asked him as I leant back into him. It felt kind of nice having my belly rubbed like that, no wonder dogs liked the feel of it.

'Just a little foreplay… please?' Hank asked me before he started to nibble on my ear. I gave a shiver from the feel of my ear being nibbled. 'H-Hank… we really need to go soon so we can buy the house. We want to get settlement ASAP so we can move out of your mother's place.' I said to him.

Hank stopped for a moment and then he let me go. 'You are right. I will never get to bask like this if we are still stuck at my mothers. I'm Getting ready to buy the house… after we revive your fossils at Route Eight!' Hank said as he walked around me. He gave me a playful wink and gathered up his clothes to shake the sand from them also.

I gave a sigh of relief and smiled at Hank. 'Work first, play later.' I muttered quietly. Hank snickered as he pulled his boxers on and then tried to adjust his swollen part into a comfortable position. 'Sure. Hopefully I can organise for immediate settlement of the house so we can move in right away. The real estate agent told me that the old fisherman has moved out, and into a nursing home already. The house should be clear and the pre inspection check for electrical and plumbing faults is done. The decor is old and the place needs a lick of paint, maybe new carpets but I know that doesn't bother you. The Milo I know is happy if there is a roof, a floor, a bed and a toilet that flushes.' Hank said to me with a smile while he fiddled with the tent in his boxers to get himself sitting right to pull his trousers on all the way.

I had put my own underwear on while Hank had spoken. I looked at him with a smirk. 'You mean this house is missing one of those important things on my wishlist? There is no bed is there?' I asked him with a playful smirk. Hank laughed. 'No, we need to go shopping for one. Maybe we can get Mandy to drive us to the property and then drive us to Goldenrod City Plaza. If you show Scout both of those locations he can practice teleporting between the two places.' Hank said to me with a cheeky smile.

'Shopping?' I asked with a groan. Hank rolled his eyes at me. 'This is more like a supply run than actual shopping. There are essential things that we WILL need. Like white goods, a good PC that Clyde can upgrade for us with the latest Silph Co gear, a bed, some kind of lounge suite, maybe even a TV and a gaming console. The last two aren't things we will need but they would be nice to have. Also if this place is all wooden floor boards a few rugs might be nice. If memory serves me correctly we also need utensils and cutlery and other basic kitchen electronics for cooking with.' Hank pointed out to me.

I put my hands up in surrender before smiling a little. 'I surrender! You win! Some of that stuff might actually be fun to look for. Like our days in highschool, looking for new games to play or movies to watch.' I said with a smile. Hank chuckled. 'Don't forget that time that we went knife shopping at the camping store. I'm so glad that you were too broke to buy that eight inch hunting knife. I wouldn't have gotten any sleep that night.' Hank said with a snicker.

I giggled a little at the thought. 'I was going to shave one of your eyebrows off for fun.' I admitted with a cheeky grin. 'I know… I still got pranked that night any way. You couldn't afford the knife but you managed to buy the large packet of assorted feather flies from the fishing and tackle section without me seeing it, AND stick them all over me while I slept.' Hank said with a chuckle.

I gave a shrug and looked at him while he pulled a black t-shirt over his head. His muscles rippled under his skin as he pulled the fabric down over himself. 'Maybe I might enjoy this type of shopping with you. Just don't drag me down any clothing isles. Please!'I pleased with him.

Hank pulled a face. 'No… no I don't think I will. I'm a little scarred from when I went with Janice to buy my suit. I will be staying clear of clothes and shoes. The closest fabric we will get to, will be linnen for our new bed and possibly some towels.' Hank assured me. 'Good!' I said before letting out a sigh of relief at the same time that Hank did.

'Why are women so… so… obsessed with clothes and shoe shopping?' Hank asked me with a furrowed brow. I mirrored his expression with a furrowing of my own brow. 'I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that you are meant to be gay and I'm supposed to be a dude. I don't know how I lost my Y chromosome and ended up with an extra X chromosome.' I said with a sudden smirk.

Hank blinked twice before he burst out laughing. 'I would only be gay for you Milo.' Hank said between breaths. I shook my head at him while I smirked. 'No! No! Its not Milo. It's Lola! L! O! L! A! Lola!' I said with a teasing smile. Hank snickered before tackling me into a hug.

The tackle sent us both sprawling into the sand. Once I was down Hank started to tickle me. I gave a surprised squeal before trying to wriggle away from him. 'HANK!' I shouted as laughter seemed to explode from me. My whole body tingled and wriggled uncontrollably from his tickling fingers. 'Yes Milo what is it?' Hank asked me in an innocent voice while he held me from wriggling away with one hand while the other slipped under my top to keep tickling me.

'S-s-s… hahahahahaha! Stop!' I said to him, trying to get a word out between laughter. 'Stop what? I'm not doing this.' Hank said in a mock innocent voice with a devilish grin. Hank stopped a moment to let me catch my breath.

I panted and lay on my back on the warm sand. Hank only smiled as he traced his fingers over my belly, under my top. He wasn't tickling me for now, he was feeling my skin. He felt like he was tracing my scars to memory. 'That was a cheap shot…' I said as I got enough breath back to string a sentence together.

Hank only hummed before lifting my shirt up to expose my belly button to himself again. Hank leant down and started to nibble on my belly. This sent another sensation through me. I shivered a little and watched him with wide eyes. Hank watched me calmly while he nibbled on the soft skin of my belly.

I didn't stop him. I found it slightly fascinating. What a strange spot to nibble on me. Then I saw the glint in his eyes. 'Don't you dare!' I warned him. Hank grinned and licked my belly before blowing a raspberry into the spot he had licked. He resumed the tickling.

I burst into another wave of uncontrollable laughter and squirmed in his strong hands while they rendered my body useless. Hank chuckled while he watched me. After a minute he stopped and waited for me to catch my breath again.

I looked up at the sky in a daze while I gasped for air. Hank knew exactly what he was doing. He was getting away with being intimate with me on a level I hadn't even considered. Strange I wasn't shying away from this. Maybe because he wasn't trying to grope me between my legs or play with my pectoral region.

I couldn't help but smile while I panted. 'Hank…' I called him between breaths. 'Yes?' he asked me in a hopeful tone. 'You know me too well… how did you know this would make me less skittish?' I asked him.

I felt Hank lick slowly around my belly button before he moved to hold himself over me, right in my line of sight. 'You answered your own question. Also you aren't my first shy girl… you aren't just any shy girl either. You are MY shy girl and I know you. Having been an unfaithful scallywag in the past I do know a few tricks into seducing even the most reserved women.' Hank said to me in a serious tone. 'What happened to me making the first move then?' I asked him with narrowed eyes.

Hank's face hardened as he looked at me. 'Milo Williams… if I seriously wanted to screw you I would have done so already. You would still be naked, and possibly a frightened sobbing mess. This is just playful teasing to help show you that I'm not going to do anything against your will. I'm waiting for you to make the first move and surprise me by taking some charge to show me you want me to go all the way… but I'm not going to force you because I can't get myself to deflate right now. You aren't ready to go all the way but you are showing me that you trust me enough to indulge a little in teasing you like this.' Hank spoke with a deeper voice. He was being serious now. No joking, no pretense and no beating around the bush. He was getting right to the point. The playful glint was gone from his eyes and his jaw was tensed.

'Thank you.' I said to him in an equally serious tone before blushing a little. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked across to the rest of the cove. Almost all of the Pokemon were awake now and looking at us. My laughter must have woken them up. 'Umm… maybe we should get breakfast ready? We have another huge day ahead of us…' I suggested to Hank as i looked up to him again.

Hank looked around to all of our Pokemon again before nodding. 'Lets get everyone fed… hopefully we have enough after Usha and Amala's little feast last night.' Hank agreed.

Hank prepared breakfast for everyone while I cleaned up the mess on the beach and repacked my bag. I packed up our bed rolls and strapped them to the bottom of our respective backpacks. We all ate and rested after wards to digest.

I was standing on the small peninsula of rock next to Triffid while he fished for extra breakfast. I was watching my magikarp and horsea swimming around together under the ripples of the water's surface. 'Karp…' I said quietly. It was loud enough to get my magikarp's attention. He surfaced and looked up at me. 'Kaarp?' He asked. 'I'm going to name you Karp. Short, simple, sweet. Are you ok with that?' I asked him. 'Karp!' He responded happily before splashing his fins.

'Sea!' Horsea said as she broke the surface. 'I still need to think of a name for you. I'm sorry. Maybe when we get back Odd can tell me if you have a name already or not.' I responded to the disappointed horsea.

Before horsea could disagree with that suggestion I heard an alarmed shout from Hank. I looked up to see him get tackled by Amala and Usha. Hank was on his back in the sand, the two scrawny vulpix were on his chest with tails wagging and licking his face. 'Pfft! Girls! Stop! Back up a bit!' Hank said to them. He looked like he was trying to speak without getting licked in the mouth by the over excited fox kits.

It didn't take long for Hank's new lillipup to join in and also start licking Hank on the face. 'Scuppers stop it!' Hank said as he struggled to push the three of them away. Interesting. He must have named the new puppy already.

Hank was failing at convincing the over-excited little quadropods to stop licking him in the face. I giggled a little while I watched the scene unfold. Hank rolled over so he could get to his hands and knees before sitting up into a kneeling position. Scuppers, Amala and Usha were all up against him with tails wagging and looking up at him. Hank was laughing and trying to pet all three of them at once.

I watched them for a little while longer before looking back to Karp and the horsea. I looked at my disappointed horsea while I tried to think of a name. 'Horsea what do you think of the name Nixie? Where I am from a Nixie is a mythical water spirit with a beautiful singing voice.' I said to her. Horsea looked at me with big eyes before sending a happy fountain of water up above her head. She seemed to like the name. 'Nixie it is then!' I said with a chuckle.

Nixie bobbed up and down in the water. 'Sea! Horsea!' She chimed happily. 'Karp!' Karp said before splashing her playfully. The two became distracted by each other and swam back down below the water's surface again to play.

'Bel!' Triffid suddenly said with what sounded like a grunt. He gave a shiver as though something had just tried to attack him with a status move under the surface of the water. His vines moved around a little as though he was searching for something that I couldn't see. Then his vines went tight and he started to pull something up to the surface.

I grabbed a pokeball out of my pocket and got it ready to throw.

What Triffid pulled from the water surprised me. A skrelp! 'Skrelp!' It shouted angrily at Triffid as it was pulled from the water. 'Stun them on the rocks. If they gave you trouble I want them on the team.' I instructed Triffid. Triffid slammed the angry skrelp into the rocks next to us. This wasn't enough to knock it out but Triffid repeated the move until the poor skrelp passed out. Triffid let go of the pulp beaten skrelp and left them lying on the rocks in a bashed up daze.

'Good job Triffid… maybe next time don't be so brutal. We want them on the team not dead.' I said to him as I tossed the ball at the bleeding and bruised skrelp on the rocks. The skrelp vanished into a flash of red light and was sucked into the pokeball.

One!

Click!

The brutal bashing must have really taken it out of the poor thing. I picked up the pokeball and took out my PokeGear. I scanned the Pokeball. A male skrelp. He was three years old, large for his age and strong. He must have been close to evolving. According to the pokedex he wasn't in his normal area. Skrelp were not known to live on this side of this island. The currents either washed him here or he got lost in migration. I didn't particularly care right now.

I had a Skrelp!

I quickly registered him to my name before I could forget.

I clipped the ball onto my belt with a smile and put my PokeGear away again. I looked at Triffid and reached out to pet one of his side leaves. 'Thank you. He didn't hurt you did he?' I asked Triffid. Triffid looked at me with narrowed eyes before showing me his vines. It looked like someone had sprayed him on the vines with a poison but the damage was only very minor. 'Would you like me to spray a potion on that for you?' I asked him. Triffid simply put his vines away where I couldn't reach them. I took that as a no.

'Well we will be going soon. Did you catch enough to eat for now?' I asked Triffid. Triffid looked at me in silence before returning himself to his ball on my belt. I was getting the impression that Triffid liked the quiet solitude of his pokeball. He never seemed to get upset when I returned him to his ball either.

I looked back into the water. 'Karp! Nixie! Time to surface and return. We need to go now. I will bring you out again the next break we get, if we rest near some water.' I called them. They both surfaced and also returned to their pokeballs.

I walked my way back to Hank along the rocky ledge. I jumped back down onto the sand and saw him throw a pokeball at each of the vulpix. They both were caught successfully before the pokeballs could hit the sand. Hank picked them up and then stored them into the PC using the extension on the PokeGear.

Next to Hank all of our pokeballs were lined up on the sand. They were on two rows. One of them was mine, the other was his.

'Did I see you catch something on the rocks before?' Hank asked me as I approached him. 'Yep!' I responded with a grin. 'What was it?' He asked me. 'A skrelp. I think it followed the wrong current… or no one has caught one here to record that they are a possible catch at this cove.' I said with a cheeky grin. Hank laughed. 'No one knows about this cove. It's a secret and not many are even smart enough to survive the journey here to find it.' Hank pointed out to me.

'That is a good point. Doesn't change the fact that I caught a Skrelp!' I said, obviously excited. I found skrelp to be quite fascinating. They lived in the water but they were not water types for their whole lives. Right now Skrelp was poison and water type, but soon he would grow up to be a dragalge which would be a poison dragon. I'm not one to tempt fate by playing with poison but I find that very cool. A sneaky water ninja that will poison you before you even know that you are in danger. Skrelp would be a valuable part of my aquatic team.

'I'm happy for you but we should really return everyone who can't keep up on foot and get going.' Hank said to me. He wasn't trying to stall anymore to get frisky. Hank had put his metaphorical big boy shoes on and he was ready to go. 'Who are you keeping out?' I asked him.

Hank looked around at the pokemon present before speaking up. 'Ok everyone I need you over here!' Hank called the pokemon. Slowly everyone moved closer around us in a circle. 'Everyone move in front of us, if I call your name then go behind us.' Hank said to them.

All of the Pokemon did as instructed, even the aerodactyl. They must have decided that it wasn't so bad listening to us. Maybe because Hank and I fed them so well.

'Snuggles, Tilly, Pidge, Swoop, Scuppers, Carnage. The rest of you please return yourself to your pokeballs.' Han instructed his Pokemon. They all obeyed him. Pidge, Swoop and Carnage must have been the two pidgey and the shiny aerodactyl. Pidge and Swoop possibly came with their names. Carnage must have been what he newly called his aerodactyl.

My own Pokemon stayed out and looked at me, waiting for instructions. 'Everyone the same deal applies here. If I call you out please move to stand behind me. Nugget, Cheyenne, Scout, Houston, Hah, and… I'm sorry, I haven't named all of you yet, but the two aerodactyl. The rest of you please return to you pokeballs.' I instructed them.

All of my Pokemon also obeyed, except for the dewpider and the chansey. 'Ladies I know we haven't had a great start but please return. If you stay out you will need to do a lot of walking.' I said to both of them. Chansey puffed out her cheeks defiantly. If I didn't know my pink Pokemon well enough I would have seriously thought that this chansey was an oversized jigglypuff with how she was acting. I bet if Chansey had longer arms, they would be crossed.

The dewpider ran over to houston and climbed up onto his back to then stand on his shoulders. They both wanted to stay out for the trip.

I sighed and looked at Hank. Hank looked between both of them. 'If you insist on being out and you can't keep up we will return you anyway.' Hank warned them. They both looked like they wanted to take that risk. 'Sey!' 'Dew!' They both said in agreeable tones. 'Okay then… to business…' Hank said before turning to face the others.

'Today we test your endurance further. We need to get to route eight and then get back to Heahea City before the sun reaches the midway point in the sky. Any of you who get too tired to continue it will be up to you to return yourselves to your own poke ball while we travel. Houston and Hah if you need a break for any reason then it is up to you to stop the group.' Hank said to all of them.

The aerodactyl looked excited to have a decent flight ahead of them, they took to the skies and started to circle us from above. I wasn't sure if it was to get altitude or just to wait in the wind for us to start moving.

Hank and I picked up the pokeballs in the sand and clipped what we could fit onto our belts. Hank and I both took a couple of minutes to then put Pokemon that we couldn't carry back into our PC. Once that was done, Hank mounted Houston and I climbed back onto Hah.

As a group we made our way back up the steep slope. We left the cove behind and followed Hank north to follow the coast line. It looked like today he was leading us around the bottom of the volcano, around the jungle on the easiest path to route eight where we would revive the fossils.


	34. Chapter 34

Black Lightning Chapter 34

We traveled along the coast line at an unsteady pace. The coast was all cliffs, rocks and slopes, right up to the water. Hah made easy work of this rough terrain. Her long legs and strong claws made it easy for her to jump and run along each ledge with Snuggles and Nugget following her. It was less easy for Houston and chansey. Chansey managed to get close enough to me to return herself to her ball. My new Dewpider was very happily perched on Houston's head, enjoying the free ride and the scenery.

After two hours of rough jagged ground we made it to the northern coast. This side of the volcano was smooth with plenty of rich fertile soil. We were not far from the edge of the Jungle again.

On the edge of the jungle, on a patch of short grass was a flock of fletchling and fletchinder. Perched on a nearby tree was a trio of talonflame, watching over the flock while they foraged in the grass for food.

The talonflame were watching us weirily. Mostly they were watching the three aerodactyl.

Nugget and Snuggles ran ahead to see what the flock of birds was eating on the ground. Cheyenne, Scout, Pidge and Swoop followed them curiously. The fletchling and fletchinder that were foraging mostly ignored them. They seemed unafraid and confident enough in themselves that they saw our team as little threat.

Hah came to a stop to watch. She tensed under me and sparks of static started to jump off her downy feathers. 'Milo get ready… I can count at least thirty Pokemon in that flock. If they decide we are a threat those talonflame will be all over us and the rest will follow.' Hank warned me.

I watched as Cheyene and Scout hovered and flew around over the top of the foraging flock. Nugget and Snuggles walked around between the birds looking at the ground, trying to find what they could possibly be eating in the dirt. The soil must have been rich in bugs.

Then it happened.

The ground started to shake and several chunks of rock and earth came out of the ground and started to rain down on top of the flock. Carnage had used ancient power. The two female aerodactyl swooped down and snatched up two of the fletchling before swallowing them whole down their throats.

The talonflame gave an outraged cry and flew at the three aerodactyl. I was surprised to see that Carnage's mate had precharged a hyper beam and fired it at one of the attacking talonflame. Hyper beam landed a direct hit. The talonflame fell out of the sky and hit the ground with a thump. The other two talonflame covered themselves in fire and flew with great speed at the aerodactyl that had used the hyper beam.

'Scout! Get Cheyenne out of there!' I called out to him. Flying and fire attacks were their weakness as bug types. This flock of birds were both of those types.

The whole flock took to the air and started to attack which ever pokemon of ours was closest. By some miracle Scout managed to teleport himself and Cheyenne out of the battle.

'Snuggles thunderwave into the middle! Pidge! Swoop! Sand attack your way through. Get to the outside of the flock!' Hank called out to the younger Pokemon on his team.

Hah gave an angry scream and then looked at me over her shoulder. She wanted me off. She didn't have to tell me twice. I slid off her back and landed on my feet in the soft volcanic soil. Hah gave her squealing war cry and ran at the flock, lightning shooting up from her back while she ran.

Bolts of lightning bounced up from Snuggles from inside of the attacking flock. I couldn't see Nugget in there, there were too many birds attacking at once. The aerodactyl trio were eating random fletchling out of the sky on the fly in their fight against the enraged talonflame.

I was really struggling to keep up with the battle. There was too much happening and they were too fast. I needed to slow it down… how…? I looked at Scout fluttering next to me. 'Scout get up above the flock and cover the whole area with stun spore. We need to paralyze all of them!' I said to him. Scout looked at me and then vanished.

'Nugget double team your tail out of there! Use thunder wave if you need to!' I yelled out to him above the noise of the fireballs and crackling lightning going off. 'Snuggles you too! Get on the outside of the flock!' Hank yelled out.

I doubted either of them could hear us above the battle. With the amount of noise from the various attacks and war cries of the group of fighting Pokemon, I could hardly hear myself and Hank yelling orders to them.

From above the chaos silvery powder started to fall over the fight. Scout was flying in circles over the battle sprinkling poisonous dust everywhere. Unfortunately Hank and I didn't buy paralysis healing medicine. Fortunately the PC in this world acted like it did in the games. Pokemon placed into the PC system for safe digital storage were fully restored, rested and healed. Luckily for Hank and I, we had a device to put Pokemon into the PC through our PokeGear.

Suddenly from inside of the flock came a huge bolt of lightning followed by several other huge bolts. Many of the fletchling and fletchinder fell to the ground fainted and smoking. I couldn't tell if that attack was thunder or zap cannon but it was super effective. In the middle of the falling cloud of birds stood Hah. 'ZAPTOR!' She screeched loudly at the falling birds.

Snuggles ran back to Hank. In her mouth she carried one fainted pidgey by the back of the neck and the other fainted pidgey she carried in her hand like claws. Hank returned them as soon as they were in range of their pokeballs.

A trio of hyper beam went off at each of the three talonflame. One of them fell to the ground and fainted. The other two were hit but it wasn't critical. They managed to barrel roll out of the way before using quick attack at their respective attackers.

With most of the flock on the ground twitching from paralysis or fainted, I could see Nugget again. He was jumping up trying to bite a swooping fletchling. 'Nugget use thunder wave followed by bite!' I called out to him.

Nugget was panting hard and he looked tired but he let out a weak thunderwave which was enough to temporarily slow down the fletchling before he jumped up and bit it with glowing teeth. I was lucky this time that he could hear me.

Hah rushed over to Nugget to stand over him protectively. Hah then let out another series of huge lightning bolts into the air around her, aimed at the remaining flying birds of the flock. Scout only just managed to avoid the attack. My two aerodactyl were not so lucky, they both took direct hits and fainted in the air before falling into the dirt.

Nugget was chewing on the fletchling that he had managed to catch. Everytime he tightened his jaws on the little bird, it spasmed and twitched like it was getting electrocuted. It quickly fainted before he took it in his hand like claws to hold it. He licked the fainted bird before looking around.

There was still a lot happening but I was busy watching Nugget. Hah picked up a fletchinder and shook it hard while electrocuting it. She stopped when smoke started to come off it. She dropped it on the ground before putting a foot on it. She used her primary slicing claw on her foot to tear open the fletchinder's gizzard. Hah then leant down to Nugget to nudge him before she took a small bite out of the dead fletchinder. Nugget followed her lead and bit into the electric fried firebird.

Nugget happily ate the bird his mother killed while hugging the fainted bird he had attacked. It looked like he wanted to keep that fletchling like he wanted to keep the dewpider. It must have been female and Nugget must have liked that. I wondered if Nugget secretly knew the move attract.

I noticed then that there was a sudden quiet in the area. The whole flock was fainted or paralysed on the ground. Snuggles ran back to the fainted flock and approached a fainted fletchinder. She copied what Hah had done to it and sliced it open with her claws. She then started to feed on it, covering her snout in blood in the process.

I started to walk over to the group of fainted and paralysed pokemon. Both of my aerodactyl needed to be returned and Nugget would need healing. 'Alright girls, you are both down and out of action for now. Return!' I called the two aerodactyl. They both flashed into red light and returned to their pokeballs.

I looked up to Scout. Scout fluttered down to me. 'Are you ok to keep being out of your ball?' I asked him. 'Moth!' Scout confirmed with a nod. Thankfully for teleport he was unharmed. 'Very good. You did well out there. Good job.' I said to him. Scout gave a melodic sound and fluttered closer to me to nuzzle my face. Scout then flew over me and back over to Cheyenne, who was keeping a safe distance.

'Carnage, you are too beat up to stay out. Return you bloody trouble maker.' I heard Hank say to his protesting shiny aerodactyl. Carnage wanted to stay out but he looked far too burnt and bloodied to actually be ok.

I chuckled a little and then walked over to Nugget and Hah. Hah watched Nugget eat with something like a purr. I knelt down near Nugget and took my bag off my back. I opened it up and dug around until I found a potion. I sprayed Nugget until it was empty. It didn't fully heal him but he looked a bit better. Nugget ignored me and continued to eat.

I looked up at Hah with a smile. 'You are a good mother Hah for protecting your baby like that. I am very impressed.' I said to her. Hah looked at me with a snort before lifting her head and puffing her chest out proudly.

'Stator!' Nugget interrupted making both of us look at him. Nugget stepped on his food and over it to me. He placed the fainted fletchling in front of me and then looked at me expectantly. 'Is this one for your special team?' I asked Nugget with a giggle. Hah gave a disapproving hiss. Nugget chirped happily and leant down to push the fainted bird closer to me with his snout. 'Tor!' He said happily.

I took out my pokegear and scanned the fletchling. Great set of base stats, very healthy and of course FEMALE. She was also very young, most likely from this breeding season. For some reason the PokeGear wasn't so certain about this one's age. That was strange.

While I was reading about the fletchling Nugget went into my bag and dug his head in there. He pulled out a friend ball and then dropped it on the fletchling. By pure luck the button hit the fainted bird and she turned into a flash of red light. Fletchling was pulled into the ball and the ball snapped shut on the soft dirt.

One!

Two!

Click!

I picked up the ball and held it up to Nugget. 'What are we going to call her?' I asked him. 'Staaaaaaa!' Nugget said to me slowly. 'Star?' I asked him. 'Tor!' He agreed before chirping happily. 'Because she is pretty like a star?' I asked Nugget. Nugget chirped and licked the poke ball containing the new fletchling. 'Ok, we will name her Star because she is so pretty Casanovator!' I said with a laugh. Hah gave an unimpressed snort by her son's taste in pack mates.

Hank laughed behind me. I heard him walk closer. 'Why don't you revive your new little Star so she can continue with us outside of the ball? We have enough potions for it and she is local. She could get us to route eight much faster than I could.' Hank suggested.

Nugget gave an excited chirp at the idea. Hah and Snuggles both hissed at him. Nugget ignored them. Nugget liked what Nugget liked. It seemed he liked a lot of things… rather he liked a lot of females. A lot of females of his choice, that he thought could fight well. Whatever the reason was Nugget was surrounding himself with as much female company as possible. Much like the hatchling was trying to make his own little harem.

I trusted Nugget's decision to catch the dewpider and the fletchling. Nugget was an observer and a thinker. He never lunged forward first. Snuggles always seemed to rush ahead first when she saw a weedle she wanted to eat. Nugget always hung back and thought about it before choosing his target. There would have been a reason that he specifically chose Star out of the whole flock of birds. I had a feeling there was more to it than the fact that she was female.

Time would show me exactly why Nugget had specifically chosen Star and the un-named dewpider. I had a feeling that they wouldn't be the only female Pokemon that he would chose to bring into the team.

I released the fainted fletchling in the dirt where I had caught her. I then took out a revive crystal and touched her with it. A shine of energy came off the crystal before it went dull. I left it in the dirt as the little fletchling woke up. She looked around with her deep black eyes. She must have remembered being defeated and figured out that I had caught her.

'I'm Milo, behind me is Hank, that is Snuggles, the big mother is Hah and the one who fainted you is Nugget. We have named you Star. You are one of us now. We are all going to work hard to be as strong as possible so we can survive anything that comes our way.' I said to her, introducing her to all of us. I took out a potion and sprayed her while she looked around. The spray refreshed her enough that her feathers took a healthy shine.

'Fletch!' She chirped and flew up to sit on my shoulder. I smiled a little. It was nice to get instant acceptance. 'We need to get to the Pokemon centre on route eight as quickly as possible. Can you show us the way there Star?' I asked her. 'Chling!' She whistled before hopping off my shoulder to start flying away. She swooped around to fly back to us. 'Fletchling!' She called us.

'Fletchinder!' One of the paralysed fletchinder snapped at her. They probably felt betrayed.

'Fletch!' Star snapped back at them. Star swooped them angrily before flying around to land on my shoulder again. I walked over to the paralysed Fletchinder and looked down at them. 'I caught her fair and square. I'm sorry that some of you got eaten, I wasn't expecting the aerodactyl to do that, but you lost the battle. I thought that Fletchinder were supposed to be honourable flying types?' I asked the paralised bird. It glared at me before giving a sigh. 'Chinder…' It sighed again before looking away.

'Come on Milo…' Hank called out. He had gone back to Houston and mounted him. 'Alright I'm coming!' I called back to Hank. Hah came over to me and lowered herself enough for me to climb onto her.

Star flew ahead of us towards route eight. Nugget followed under Star with Snuggles trailing behind him. Cheyenne gained altitude with Scout and they followed from higher up. Houston followed Snuggles. Hah took up the rear, looking over her shoulder with a warning hiss as we moved away from the defeated flock.

Star lead us along what seemed to be an abandoned trail. There were old faded and burnt signs everywhere. I couldn't make out what they were saying but they seemed to be warning signs.

Still we continued on that path following our little bird.

We reached route eight and followed it towards the Pokemon Centre. According to the PokeGear we were only about five hundred meters from the closest building. We were still on the edge of the Jungle though. On the opposite side of the dirt path was a yellow sand beach.

'Moth!' 'Yanma!' Scout and Cheyenne called out from above very suddenly. Star came to a stop and circled around. Scout and Cheyenne fluttered down and hovered between the group and the edge of the jungle. They seemed to be in defensive positions. The pair of them must have seen something.

Hah gave a sharp snort. Nugget and Snuggles responded by running around to stand behind her flanks. Houston turned around and faced where Scout and Cheyenne were facing. He lowered his head and pawed at the ground. My Dewpider climbed up onto Hank's head and sat there like a hat.

I looked at Hank a little confused. He frowned and ran his hand over his ball belt before looking to the lush jungle. Shy tilly hovered behind Houston.

I had forgotten that Tilly was out of her ball. She was so good and staying out of sight, even in plain sight. She was scared now. Whatever our Pokemon could sense, it was clearly a threat.

I dismounted from Hah and landed on the ground, on the balls of my feet.

'Say those are some nice Pokemon that you have there. How about you share and give them to us.' Someone called out from the jungle. 'Triffid, get ready to come out, I might need you…' I said quietly. Hah gave a hiss. One ball on my belt gave a vibration in confirmation. Good Triffid had heard me.

'I don't think our Pokemon want to go with you.' Hank retorted to whoever it was. A pair of voices laughed before coming into sight. They stayed in the shelter of the Jungle. I could just see that they were wearing all black with white trimming. They looked like gangsters with their baggy black clothing. I was happy to see that they weren't Kalos soldiers.

'They will if you are dead.' One of them responded to Hank. 'You are going to try and kill us?' I asked one of them with a smirk. 'We will succeed in killing you, and taking everything you have.' The other one retorted.

'What if we win?' Hank asked the pair of them. 'You? Defeat Team Skull?' The first one asked before they both laughed. Hank looked at me with a dark smirk before looking back to the Jungle. They didn't know who he was.

It looked like the real Team Skull were not afraid to get blood on their hands for some petty cash. The Team Skull in the games must have been very censored and tame versions of the real thing. It made me wonder for a moment how brutal the rest of the criminal teams were. How far they would go to get power and money.

I took Triffids ball off my belt and held it up. I took a deep breath and focused on Scout. 'Take the ball from my hand and teleport into the jungle. Release triffid into the trees and let him eat the two thugs. Bring his ball back to me after you have released him. Do not let them see you release him. Triffid is to sneak attack. These guys mean business, its us or them.' I thought as loudly as I could in my mind. I hoped that Scout got the message.

Scout looked back to me. He teleported to my hand, took the ball and then teleported away.

'It looks like your venomoth is abandoning you. Team skull really is the best!' The other thug announced. I shrugged in response. 'So are you going to attack or are you going to run your mouth?' I asked them.

'Supersonic.' 'Stringshoot!' They both said at once. 'Scatter!' I commanded my pokemon. They all ran in different directions. 'Scout psychic on the team skull thugs.' I thought in my head. Hank rode on Houston as he ran away. Houston was following my scatter order before allowing Hank to steer him.

'Tilly find their pokemon! Flush them out!' Hank called to his shiny beedrill. She flew into the jungle with an angry buzz.

Dirt on the path around me started to pick up dust as a high pitched tone sounded through the area. I backed away and then ran along the path to avoid the aim of the supersonic attack. A shot of sticky string came out at my ankle tripping me over. I tripped into the dirt but caught myself on my hands and knees. I looked back. The big shoot of webbing was leading into a large leaf shrub. I gave the web a hard tug with my leg. The tug exposed a pair or red fangs.

The supersonic had confused Nugget and Snuggles. The pair of baby stator were stumbling around on the dirt path and chirping in a happy, confused daze.

I couldn't see where Hah was. She had vanished into the Jungle. 'Horn attack!' Hank's voice yelled. Houston charged head first into the leafy shrub with glowing horns. Houston mauled the bush with an angry bellow. 'Tauros!' He announced as a spinarak was flung from the bush and out onto the dusty dirt path.

A second later Hah burst from the Jungle. In the claws of her feet she held a golbat. She landed on top of it with her claws sunk into its back. With a triumphant shriek she tore the bat open, spraying blood everywhere. She tore the golbat to ribbons with her teeth and clawed hands. Once she was satisfied that it was sufficiently shredded, she started to eat it.

The shriek from Hah was followed by an agonising scream from inside the jungle. Triffid must have been busy shredding one of them ready to eat. 'Hank make sure neither of the Team Skull thugs escape. The spinarak is mine.' I called out to him over my shoulder. 'Come on Houston! Tilly is that all of their pokemon?' Hank called out for Tilly as he steered Houston into the jungle after the remaining Team Skull thug. 'Drill!' I heard Tilly respond.

The spinarak righted itself on the dirt path before shaking its head and focusing on me. 'Cheyenne double team and quick attack. Hit as hard as you can!' I said to Cheyenne. The spinarak surprised me. It used night-shade to counter the double team and then attack Cheyenne just as she landed her quick attack. 'Get some distance, and use foresight.' I said to her. Cheyenne hovered straight up above the spinarak as she used foresight.

The spinarak jumped up using shadow sneak, hitting Cheyenne again. Cheyenne wobbled in the air when she was hit by the spinarak's jump. The spinarak grabbed onto her and used poison sting. 'Ma!' Cheyenne cried out in pain.

'Moth!' Scout chirped from above the jungle trees. He sent a psybeam at the spinarak as Cheyenne crash landed back into the path on top of the spinarak. Cheyenne fainted on top of the spinarak. Somehow the spinarak didn't faint. Tough spider.

I took Cheyenne's ball from my belt and returned her. Scout used gust on the spinarak. A direct hit. The spinarak fainted where they were. I looked up at Scout with a frown. 'Scout get that spinarak's ball.' I said to him. Scout vanished in a teleport.

Another agony filled scream sounded from the jungle before it gurgled. It sounded like when someone's throat was slashed in a bad hollywood horror movie. I walked over to the edge of the jungle to look in where I had been able to see the two team skull grunts standing.

Triffid was hanging from a tree, using his vines to push someone headfirst down his mouth. Their feet were struggling and kicking out the top of his mouth. Triffid used a vine to hold their ankles together while he drowned who ever that was in the acid of his body.

Again triffid was covered in blood. I don't think I would ever get that cleaned off him. Some part of me actually didn't care if I got the blood cleaned off him. Triffid seemed happy covered in blood sprays.

I walked over to triffid while he ate the unfortunate Team Skull thug. I looked under him. There was a black woolen beanie, a pair of goggles, a full face mask, a ball belt and two shoes along with blood splatters and ribbons of shredded black cloth. On the ball belt were two pokeballs.

I took out my PokeGear and scanned the two balls. The Gear picked up the information of the DNA registry of both poke balls. One was a male spinarak, the other was a salazzle. 'Shit!' I snapped and looked around. I picked up the blood splashed face mask and put it on.

I then called Hank in my PokeGear. 'What is it?' He asked the second he answered my call. It sounded like he was running through the jungle after someone. 'There is a salazzle here! I don't know where but send Houston back to me now! We need all male pokemon to return!' I said to him quickly. 'Understood! Houston…' Hank called out and then hung up.

I looked up at Triffid with a frown. 'Triffid get to the path out in the open NOW Grab that ball belt on your way! Scout stay above the trees!' I yelled as I turned and ran back to the path to where a confused Nugget and Snuggles were still stumbling around. 'Nugget return!' I said as I ran up to him.

In his confused state Nugget returned to his ball. I looked around with narrowed eyes and a gritted jaw.

Triffid came out of the trees and slowly moved his full self over to me into the middle of the path. He lifted one of his leaves to reveal the extra ball belt to me. I took the two pokeballs off their belt.

'Spinarak return!' I called the spinarak. It turned into a zap of red light. 'Triffid, the second you have digested enough to return to your ball do it! I don't need you getting seduced by a sexy lizard with a high lust drive.' I said to Triffid while he was behind me. I trusted the giant man eating plant enough to have my back to him.

I scanned the pokeball with the spinarak in it and looked up his registry details. He was currently unregistered. He had been registered in the past but the details had been deleted. He must have been stolen from someone. Team skull must have deleted the registry of their Pokemon so no one could trace them back to the crime group. That was convenient for me. This spinarak also had a high energy reading. He must have been close to evolving. I registered the spinarak to my name and clipped it back onto the bloody belt.

I put the blood covered belt around my hips, through the extra belt loop on my cargo pants. I looked around for the salazzle. Triffid returned himself to his ball.

This was interesting. I just fought crime with crime.

Murder.

I just commited murder to protect myself and my pokemon from a pair of thugs. I felt like I should have felt bad about it. I didn't. I was about to be faced with a war. There would be more killing. Who knew how many people Team Skull had killed outside of war fare.

This didn't justify my killing of them, but it wasn't just me with that mentality. Triffid was a man eater and Hah was a very happy killer. It was just another part of the food chain to them or a wild territory dispute. It was along the lines of "Trespassers will be shot. Survivors shot again" This wasn't a territorial attack through. It was an attack against the team. In Hah's mind it was an attack against the pack which is pretty much the same thing. We were her family. Clearly she would happily kill for us. I was glad that the very fast, electric, seven foot tall raptor was on our side.

Hah was in the middle of eating the shredded golbat. 'Hah!' I called her. Her head snapped up and she looked at me with a hiss. 'There is another enemy around here... ' I got the picture of the salazzle up on my PokeGear screen and walked up to Hah to show her the picture. 'She is still sneaking around in the jungle. The others are in danger. We need you to find her and bring her back here so I can get her back into her pokeball.' I said to Hah urgently.

Hah hissed again as she narrowed her eyes at me. Her eyes glanced down at her kill and then to me. 'If you don't she will follow us and then try and take Nugget from us to be her mate after turning him into a mindless puppet.' I said to her. Hah's eyes went wide and she gave a defiant screech. Lightning jumped up off her back and she turned and ran into the jungle with her tail angrily raised.

Star landed on my shoulder with a chirp. Scout fluttered down to me. 'Scout find Houston and lead him back here. Be careful.' I instructed him. Scout fluttered up and over the trees. As soon as he rose above the treeline, a pillar of what could only be flamethrower burst up at Scout. Scout was hit but not directly.

Scouts wing was burning while he fell out of the sky and into the trees. 'Glitz come out!' I called her. Glitz came out of her pokeball and looked around with a slow blink. 'Poke slow?' She asked as she looked around.

Scout was screaming in pain while the fire burnt him somewhere in the treetops.

'Glitz forgive me…' I said before stepping onto her tail with the heel of my boot. Glitz's eyes focused and she looked up at me with watery pain-filled eyes. 'Sorry sweetness but we need to save Scout. He is hurt very bad!' I said to her quickly. 'Poke!' She said with new determination.

I ran into the jungle ahead of her. Now that Glitz was in pain she could focus. She gallopeed behind me on her four feet. We found Scout stuck up a tree with his wing on fire before we found the Salazzle. 'Glitz use water gun to put the fire out!' I said to her.

'Fletch!' Star chirped before flying at a tree and swooping around it. Star must have followed behind us.

Glitz opened her mouth and sprayed Scout with water. The fire was put out but Scout was still in a lot of pain. He looked at Glitz thankfully. 'Scout return!' I called him back to his ball. Scout flashed into a red bolt of light and vanished back into his ball.

It looked like Star was my last able bodied flying Pokemon left. Star's swooping had caused a large salazzle to fall out of a tree and onto the ground. I took the salazzle ball from my belt and held it up to her. 'Return!' I snapped at her.

The pokeball responded by returning the sneering salazzle back to her ball. I scanned the ball with my PokeGear.

She was also unregistered. She had no deleted registry in her past files. I could see that she had been either caught in the wild or bred by someone. It was possible she was stolen but not likely. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep her yet or not. The data in the PokeGear told me that she was a higher level than Odd. She was a seasoned fighter. That could be useful. Still I couldn't trust her just yet. I didn't think I could cope with a Salazzle on my team.

I clipped her back onto the ball belt and started to walk back to the dirt path. Glitz followed next to me. The pain must have been easing for Glitz, she was starting to slip back into her dopey ways. 'Glitz return sweetness. Thank you for your help.' I said to her.

Glitz returned to her ball mid stride. I looked back over my shoulder. 'Star… find Hank. If he needs help fly up over the trees so I can come and help. Once he is done, lead him back to me.' I said to her while I walked away. Star chirped and flew up to glide over the trees.

When I returned to the dirt path I found Houston there waiting for me. He snorted and came over to me. Houston sniffed all over me with worried snuffles. 'I'm ok Houston. How is Hank?' I asked him with a small smile while I petted him between the horns. Houston looked at me and then to the Jungle. Houston seemed to relax. Hank must have been ok. For now...

'We will wait here together for him.' I said to Houston calmly. 'Dew?' Dewpider said as she stumbled around Houston's hooves. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking past me. I looked at where she was looking.

The shredded bloody puddle that was once a golbat.

I was distracted by the sound of a motor bike. It was getting closer.

A police officer.

Brilliant!

Just BRILLIANT!

UGH!

On the back of the bike, behind the officer was a boy.

The officer came to a stop on the other side of the brutally murdered golbat. They looked at it horrified before looking at me with a frown.

'Is this the person?' The officer asked the boy. The boy got off the motorbike and looked at me. 'No. She isn't Team Skull. The people who stole my Salazzle are from Team Skull!' He said, clearly upset.

He must have been a new trainer. What was he doing with a Salazzle though? Maybe his parents were breeders, or really rich. Either way it wasn't my business. I looked into the Jungle with a sigh.

Where was Hank? It shouldn't have taken him this long to deal with a low life like that.

'Excuse me Ma'am have you seen any members of Team Skull here?' The officer asked me. 'Yes I have… that was one of theirs.' I said as I pointed to the dead golbat. The officer looked at the carcase and then at me with a glare. 'Did you do it?' He asked me. 'One of my Pokemon did to protect me. She is still very primitive though and I am trying to teach her the difference between fighting to kill and battling for sport. We were challenged to a death match by two members of Team Skull though. They weren't going to stop until we were dead.' I said with a sigh.

'We?' The officer asked from where he stood. 'My husband and I are here for our honeymoon. We were on our way to the Pokemon Centre on route eight to heal our team after a night of camping. We had plans to go to the place where fossils get revived too before going back home this afternoon.' I responded.

'Two Team Skull members? Where are they?' The officer then asked me. 'My husband is chasing after one of them… the other one… Ummm… Kid you might want to look away… Triffid come out.' I called Triffid.

In a flash of red light, Triffid came out next to me. He was still splashed in fresh wet blood and he still had a pair of feet poking out from the top of his mouth. Triffid looked at me and then he looked at the boy and the police officer. 'Bel?' He asked me. 'Not enemies. They aren't trying to kill us.' I said to Triffid calmly. 'Victreebel!' Triffid greeted them happily. Having his belly full of half digested human must have put him in a very good mood.

The boy and the police officer looked at Triffid in horror. The pair of them went pale and started to shiver.

I cleared my throat to get their attention. I took the bloody ball belt from my hips, sneakily taking the spinarak ball from the belt and slipping it into my pocket. I was keeping the spinarak no matter what. I held the ball belt out before throwing it to the officer.

'That should be the boy's Salazzle. The scene where the Team Skull guy was killed and eaten is just that clearing through there. The rest of the scene is untouched.' I said to the officer. The officer caught the ball belt. They took out a PokeGear and scanned the ball before holding the screen up to the boy. 'Is that your Salazzle?' They asked him. The boy looked at the stats with a focused frown before nodding and smiling. 'That is her!' He said happily.

Suddenly the boy snatched the ball belt with a wicked smile and ran away. 'Thanks for the free Salazzle officer! SUCKER!' He shouted over his shoulder. He released a mudbray. The mudbray ran next to him while he made his escape. The boy scrambled onto the mudbray's back and they raced away.

'Looks like you got hustled officer.' I said calmly. The police officer smirked and shrugged. He reached to his shoulder and squeezed a button on his walkie talkie. 'Blaze catch the boy and his mudbray. It is as we suspected.' He said into the walkie talkie. 'Arcanine!' came a bark from the other side of the walkie talkie.

The police officer's attention was then on me again. 'So you are here on your honeymoon… I'm going to need to see some ID Ma'am.' The officer said to me in a voice dripping with sarcasm before it became seriously dark. I sighed heavily and took out my PokeGear.

'STATOR!' Came a war scream from the Jungle. 'Shit! Hah stop!' I snapped and ran to stand between the jungle where Hah was and the officer. I turned and faced the Jungle with my arms out wide as Hah jumped out from the thick lush growth. Hah skidded to a stop and looked over me to hiss at the officer.

'Hah! Stand down!' I said to her firmly. I put one hand up and forward to get my hand in front of her face as I reached behind myself with my other hand to pass the police officer my ID. 'Hah he is not an enemy. He isn't trying to kill us. He is ok. It is ok… trust me.' I continued to speak to Hah. I felt my PokeGear get taken from my hand behind my back.

Hah looked at me and then slowly lowered herself at her hips. I reached up and stroked her blood covered muzzle before looking back to the officer. He was reading my PokeGear with a curious expression on his face.

'Doctor Milo Williams, Kanto Pewter Museum Archeologist. Sponsored by Kanto-Johto Elite Four's Will Istuki. You must be an important and impressive lady to be sponsored by someone from the Pokemon Council of Region's Elite Four without actually having gained a single badge or any official pokemon league battle wins.' The police officer said to me as he handed my PokeGear back. He looked like he didn't believe what he had read.

'I can prove that I am who I say I am. I have Will's private contact number.' I said to him getting a little side tracked. 'Maybe later. First I need to see this other Team Skull member and so called husband of yours.' He said to me bluntly.

I nodded and called Hank again. 'Milo! Not now! This slippery bastard is putting up a fight! OOF!' Hank said down the line before the air was knocked out of him. 'Am I on speaker?' I asked ignoring the anger in Hank's voice and the fact he sounded like he had taken a kick to the gut.

I heard a cough. 'Yes… Need back up… There are more of them…' Hank coughed and panted. It sounded like he was struggling. 'Where the hell is star?' I asked more to myself than to Hank. 'She isn't here. But several Team Skull members are… I could use Hah about now.' Hank responded in a strained voice with gritted teeth.

I stepped back to try and look over the trees. I couldn't see Star. She was either still looking for Hank or she wasn't flying high enough for me to see her. I looked at the police officer with a frown. 'He is in trouble…' I said. The officer only shrugged at me. He looked like he was expecting to be tricked again by another cheap hustle.

I couldn't use Scout. Scout was too injured to fly and then teleport… My next best option was to revive the spinarak.

'FUCK!' Came Hank's shout from over the PokeGear. 'Hank? HANK! Are you ok? What happened?' I asked. My anxiety spiking. I didn't know where he was. 'I'm ok. I just had to dodge an attack. I'm running back to you now. Revive your bloody aerodactyl! I'm going to send Carnage up, but he needs his girls to give him cover.' Hank said over the PokeGear.

I dropped to my knees and put the pokegear down. 'Aerodactyl both of you out NOW!' I commanded them. They both came out on the dirt path. They were still burnt and fainted from their fight with the talonflame. I took out two revive crystals and rested them on the pair of aerodactyl. The revives brought them back to consciousness and half strength. 'Get in the air and find Carnage. Give him cover and do whatever the hell it takes to bring Hank back alive!' I ordered them.

'Releasing Carnage. Careful of the drowsy. They are trying to spam hypnosis.' Hank warned me over the PokeGear while he ran back to us through the Jungle.

My two aerodactyl took wing and flew up before flying away as fast as they could. They must have been able to see Carnage above the treetops. Their primitive roars filled the sky as they flew away.

'Houston, Hah be ready to fight. Cheyenne come out!' I said to the two mounts, before calling Cheyenne out. Fainted Cheyenne came out of her ball and materialised before me. I took out another revive crystal and used it on Cheyenne. I took out a potion and sprayed her with it until it was empty. It didn't bring her back to full health but it was enough to make her look decent.

Cheyenne buzzed awake and looked at me. 'Fly over the trees, send Star back here and then lead Hank back to here. Be swift, Team Skull are after him, a lot of them!' I said to her urgently. 'Yan!' She responded before hovering straight up. She turned around and then shot away.

'I wish I had Butane here. I would just fry their sorry asses off my tail!' Hank said over the Gear with a growled voice. I could hear him brushing against the undergrowth while he ran. He was panting hard. 'Hah charge up…' I said to her.

'You better not. Now that I am here, I am in command of the situation. Return your pokemon.' The Officer ordered me. I clenched my jaw and looked at him over my shoulder. 'Snuggles come over here… Everyone from my team return…' I said in response to his comment. A chill ran down my spine.

Snuggles stumbled over to me as the officer gave me a tight smile. 'I'm glad you are willing to comply to the request of the law.' He said to me in a dark tone. Something about this police officer didn't sit right with me.

Reluctantly my dewpider, Hah, Triffid and Houston returned. I clenched my jaw as I looked at the officer. There was something about him that I couldn't put my finger on. While I watched his eyes they started to glow. He was a psychic!

'So that is why you are being sponsored.' The officer said to me before smiling darkly at me. He clicked his fingers and a houndoom came from it's ball to stand beside him. It growled at me with a cruel smile.

Unless something miraculous happened right now I was almost definitely screwed. This guy seemed to be a powerful psychic. Who ever he was. He was definitely dangerous. I might have also been a psychic but I was unpracticed and didn't know how to shield my thoughts from him.

I slowly turned around where I was kneeling on the ground to face the houndoom. I got onto my fingers and toes in a ready crouch to dodge or attack. The officer, who ever he was… laughed before smirking and snapping his fingers again. 'Flamethrower!' He ordered in a blunt tone.

The Houndoom opened its maw and flames spat out in my direction…

To Be Continued...


	35. Chapter 35

Black Lightning Chapter 35

'Flamethrower!' the fake police officer ordered the houndoom in a blunt tone. I was almost certain now this guy wasn't actually a police officer. If he was, he was very corrupt, or he was an ex-cop out to get revenge on a cruel harsh world. Which ever one didn't matter to me. I seemed to be his next target for who knows what reason.

The Houndoom opened its maw and flames spat out in my direction. I ducked and rolled to the side to try and avoid the flames. One of the pokeballs on my belt burst open mid roll with a loud pop. I was kicked hard in the hip and sent tumbling further along the dirt under the flames.

I rolled to a stop and scrambled up to my feet. I looked up to see that Glitz had pushed me out of the way, not only to take the hit from the flame thrower, but counter it with her own water gun. Maybe that wasn't water gun, it looked too powerful. Was that water pulse maybe? I couldn't be sure right now, but she was giving the hell hound a run for their money.

Hell fire and water collided in a constant stream between the two pokemon. Where the water and fire clashed, clouds of steam rose into the air. Glitz was only just strong enough to hold the rest of the flames from the houndoom at bay. 'Glitz disable!' I shouted to her.

A bright gleam filled her very focused eyes before they glowed and houndoom's flamethrower died. Glitz's water attack hit houndoom right in the mouth, sending it skidding back on his paws. The houndoom coughed and sputtered from all of the water that had just been forced into its mouth. It looked like it would have been a super effective critical hit to me.

Glitz stood ready to battle. On her shoulder closest to me I could see why she was so focused and fast now. The flamethrower had burnt over her shoulder, branding a fire shaped scar down her side.

If the PokeDex entries were correct, Glitz would feel that burn in all of its intensity for the rest of her life. She would remain in agony forever from that burn. Gone would be the days where her psychic visions would turn her into a dopey, silly slowpoke any time she was happy and healthy.

This revelation made me feel sad, but it had also just saved my life. On the bright side I wouldn't need to get a shellder to evolve her into a Slowking, to make her a super genius from the pain of the shellder constantly biting her on her head. That burn would give her plenty more pain than a simple bite forever.

'Glitz Yawn!' I said to her, but she was already a step ahead of me. She sent a yawn at the critically hit houndoom.

'Thunder fang!' The fake police officer shouted. 'Glitz, roll over! Hah, get out here!' I said in swift counter. Glitz didn't get to complete the yawn attack.

Houndoom lunged at Glitz. Glitz dodged simply by rolling to the side. Hah burst out of her pokeball and leapt at the houndoom, primary slashing claws first as she let loose a screech. The houndoom jumped passed Glitz to get out of the way of Hah's primitive attack.

'Glitz return! Hah keep them busy!' I said to Hah as Glitz returned. Glitz returned just before Hah could accidentally land on her, claws first. Hah landed where Glitz had been with a hiss. Hah swiftly turned to chase after the houndoom that was turning to face her for a counter attack.

Snuggles hid behind me. My bag was over next to the houndoom. 'Snuggles get my bag!' I said to her. Snuggles only whimpered and cowered behind me. 'Snuggles!' I snapped at her. Snuggles jolted at my tone and then ran at the bag. Snuggles grabbed it and started to drag it over to me.

The houndoom feinted away from another one of Hah's attacks to try and bite at Snuggles. Hah sent a bolt of lightning between the houndoom and Snuggles as Snuggles dragged my bag over to me. I took the bag from Snuggles quickly and took out a TM disc for teleport.

Scout burst from his pokeball suddenly behind me. I felt the air get pulled passed me as he used a gust attack. 'Your Pokemon are very loyal to you after such a short amount of time being with you.' The fake police officer said to me from behind me. He must have been using his psychic abilities to look into the heads of my Pokemon to look for weakness'. Short term ownership could easily be seen as a weakness, especially if no instant bond was formed.

'That is because I appreciate them and fight as hard for them as they fight for me.' I snapped at him over my shoulder. I felt a glimmer of pride towards Scout. He was a good Pokemon to have around. I trusted him and liked him a lot. Scout had proven his worth as a member of the team.

Glancing over my shoulder I could see that Scout was in a very bad way. What I could see of his wings were ruined and he looked like he was struggling to flutter on the spot. 'I will repay you…' I echoed into Scout's mind as I reached for Glitz's ball.

I put the TM disc on the button of Glitz's ball. I pressed the button. The disc span on the ball's button before shattering into many tiny pieces. The pokeball button flashed bright green to confirm that the Pokemon inside had learnt the move from the TM. Glitz now knew teleport.

'Scout return! Glitz come out! Show the houndoom what you just learned and teach them what happens when you mess with our family!' I said to Scout and Glitz.

Scout returned to his ball. Glitz came out in a flash of red and then vanished. I didn't know where she had gone. I looked behind me only to see that the fake police officer was pointing a gun at me.

Before the trigger could be pulled the ground began to shake under us. The dirt path around the fake police officer started to smoke purple as it started to crack and break apart. The broken ground lifted in great chunks and then rained down, aimed at the surrounded fake cop. Ancient power!

The fake police officer gave an alarmed shout as he tried to dodge the falling bits of broken path. He was temporarily distracted for now.

Growls, snarls, chirps and hisses from the houndoom and Hah were sounding sharply behind me while they fought.

'Carnage!' I called out as I looked above the Jungle. The ancient, angry, shiny aerodactyl came into view above the tree line and glared at me, before turning around in a swoop and letting loose a hyper beam into the jungle again. The Ancient power attack must have been him.

If Carnage was here then Hank was close!

'Yanma!' Cheyenne called out to me as she flew from the jungle with Hank hot on her tail. They burst out of the jungle from the other side of the fake cop.

Star still wasn't with them.

I didn't have time to think about that. 'Milo! RUN!' Hank yelled at me when he burst through the lush jungle growth. Hank ran past the fake cop with Cheyenne following him. The fake cop was still too preoccupied with dodging falling bits of dirt and stone to stop Hank from rushing past.

'Houston out!' I said as I picked up my bag and zipped it shut. Houston came out of his ball and gave a confused snort. I quickly got my bag on my back and turned to run to the Pokemon Centre.

Houston ran next to me. I grabbed onto the fur on his shoulder and pulled myself onto his back while he ran. Houston slowed down for Hank to catch up and climb on as well. 'Hah! Come on! Snuggles hurry up!' Hank yelled over his shoulder.

Hah and Snuggles didn't need telling twice. They ran to sprint ahead of Houston, away from the fake police officer and the houndoom.

A strange feeling in the pit of my stomach made me look back. I looked back to see that the three aerodactyl were ripping up the gravel path with ancient power in an attempt to stop someone (or many someones) from getting out of the jungle and onto the path to follow us.

A zap of red light came from the Jungle next to us and into a ball on Hank's belt. Tilly must have caught up in the lush undergrowth to return herself.

The houndoom was chasing us down the path. Behind the houndoom I saw the fake cop pull out a gun and point it at us while we attempted an escape. The three aerodactyl were too busy trying to destroy whoever was trying to exit the jungle to see the fake cop level his gun at us again.

Before I could say or do anything there was a red zap of light from a pokeball as one of my Pokemon let themselves out of their ball behind us. Scout positioned himself between us and the gun when he burst out of his ball.

Then a loud gunshot happened.

Time dramatically slowed down for a moment.

'I have no regrets.' A melodic voice whispered in my head.

As Scout materialised behind us from his pokeball he gave a hard jolt, his head flinging back before he fell to the ground. He landed on his back with his head twisted up at an odd angle, the horn on his head spiking into the ground. Scout's face was looking at Houston run away with vacant eyes, while his horn was wedged into the ground. There was a red gunshot wound right between his eyes. A trickle of blood ran down his horn and into the dirt path. His legs gave a twitch and then curled up into his body. His body went limp against the dirt path. Even with his body now limp, his face was still twisted up at an angle that his now dead eyes were still looking at Houston run away.

'SCOUT!' I shouted as I pulled Houston to a stop by the reins. 'Milo!' Hank said to me in an alarmed voice. Houston skidded to a stop from my tug. Hank had been looking ahead while I had been watching over my shoulder. 'Scout!' I snapped desperately at Hank as I flung my leg over Houston's head. I jumped off Houston's back to run back to my fallen Venomoth.

I skidded down onto my knees into the dirt path to stop near the head of my venomoth. 'Scout… No… no… no… no… Scout! NO!' I stuttered in disbelief. He was dead. He must have died before he hit the ground.

Tears filled my eyes and rage flooded through me in a sudden heat. Everything was blurry and red. A snarl made me look up suddenly from my fallen venomoth.

I looked up to see the Houndoom jump over Scout at me with maw wide open and glowing teeth. Probably another crunch attack. I wasn't going to get crunched again! I had a flashback of Pooch crunching my knee and more rage flash flooded through me.

I gave an agonized shout and leapt at the houndoom over Scout's dead body. We collided over Scout. Somehow my jump was stronger than the jump of the houndoom. I grabbed the houndoom around the neck with my arms and tackled them back over Scouts body. Somehow the houndoom's open mouth missed my shoulder. They seemed to flinch their head up when I shouted.

We landed on the dirt path, tumbling head over heels along it for a while. The houndoom kicked me off and we tumbled separately away from each other. We both scrambled to our feet. My sudden blood lust and rage made me faster than the houndoom following the will of their deranged master.

I jumped at the houndoom and grabbed both of their horns. With a hard twist I pulled them onto their side and into the dirt again as though they were an unruly steer. The houndoom growled at me and tried to resist against my twisting. Their legs kicking up into the air while I twisted their neck by the horns of their head. I continued to twist its neck, intent on snapping it if I could. Houndoom had a surprisingly strong neck.

'Your! Master! KILLED! SCOUT!' I screamed at the houndoom, giving his head another sharp yank.

I'm going to be perfectly honest right now, I wasn't going to be seeing reason for a while. Someone was going to have to die before I calmed down again. Scout was one of my best and one of the few that I actually trusted. Now he was dead. Scout had been killed in front of me. I knew who the guilty party was.

Now that guilty party could watch me take one of theirs. The only difference, this houndoom was going to suffer every moment leading up to their death.

Scout's death had been instant, possibly a choice of his to be shot in the head rather than through another part of his body, where he would have suffered only to watch the fight continue while he died in a lot of pain. Scout selflessly protected us in a humane way for himself to go to rest without feeling any pain. I was glad it was instant, but he didn't need to die! Scout didn't deserve to die!

Another gunshot sounded. A bullet hit the dirt next to my foot. I twisted the houndooms head harder and tugged more so that the houndoom was forced to sit up on their rump with their four legs stretched out and flailing desperately. Making the houndoom sit up like that gave me a meat shield. If that douche bag wanted to shoot me he would have to shoot me through his own pokemon.

Houndoom gave a choking, rasping sound under my abuse. I had managed to twist its neck into a very uncomfortable position. A position so uncomfortable it sounded like I was compromising its airways. Houndoom tried to struggle but was helpless while I held it up in this position with its head twisted to the point it could break at any moment.

Through the dirt I could feel the ground had started to tremble. Houston charged passed me and right at the fake cop. Next to houston on either side ran Snuggles and Hah. Both of them charging up as they ran.

Both Stator and Zaptor let out a large bolt of lightning ahead of themselves. The lightning shot along the ground at the fake cop. Before it could reach him a krookodile burst out of the ground and took both strikes without so much as a flinch. A classic example of a ground type resisting an electric attack.

Houston continued his charge at the fake cop, lowering his head, his horns glowing. Houston gouged his horns into the stomach of the krookodile to push them to the side before continuing on to charge at the fake cop.

Jaws clamped down next to my hand on the houndoom's horn. 'Let go!' A familiar voice snapped in my head. I leg go of the houndoom as my eyes locked with Kyuubi's. Kyuubi was here! I was so happy to see him that I could have burst into tears then and there.

Kyuubi snarled and yanked harder on the houndoom's horns. A sickening wet snap sounded and the hellhound went limp. Kyuubi let the houndoom's body fall into the dirt, it's head resting in a very awkward position. The houndoom's swollen tongue was hanging out of it's maw and its eyes were rolling around in it's head. It was still alive but it's brain was now being starved of oxygen. It couldn't breath any more with its neck broken. It was suffocating and aware that it was slowly dying. The houndoom was suffering in its last moments. I wasn't going to speed up the process or ease its pain.

I can be a cruel bitch like that when I'm angry. I wanted as much revenge as possible for Scout's untimely killing.

I looked at Kyuubi and bit my lower lip. The tears started to flow from my eyes then. I could feel my heart breaking again as I realised Scout was dead. Scout is dead now. Scout wouldn't greet me anymore with his musical voice. I wouldn't see Scout's wings glitter in the moonlight anymore. I wouldn't follow his fluttering wings on any more adventures. Scout was dead.

Scout was dead.

The tears were not stopping any time soon now. 'Help…' I said quietly to Kyuubi. Kyuubi was there now, and Glitz. Glitz must have teleported to get him! Despite the chaos Kyuubi's presence made me feel safe. He would know what to do in a situation like this.

'We will save the rest of them Milo.' A moderately soft voice said in my head. That wasn't Kyuubi's voice in my head. I looked at Glitz. She was looking at me intensely before she teleported both herself and Kyuubi over to Hank.

A sob choked in my voice. I crawled over to Scout's body and looked at him. His wings were damaged and burnt, his eyes were now clouded over. I stroked along his thorax, touching the poisonous furr there. He was already cold.

'Scout… Scout I'm sorry… I should have been the one to protect you…' I said quietly. My eyes blurred from the tears. Now that the houndoom was dead my rage was gone for now. I only felt deep sadness. I knew it wouldn't be over. There was a chance he would come back as a gastly, but I didn't want a gastly. I wanted my venomoth. I wanted Scout back.

I sat next to Scout and cried while the battle raged without me. I couldn't focus on anything right now. I just cried big ugly tears.

'Milo you can cry later. If you don't do something now Hank will die too! Return Scout to his ball and then join the battle!' Kyuubi said to me urgently in my head.

Hank die too?

Not on my first day of being a married woman!

I sniffed loudly and I wiped my wrist on my eyes. I stood up with a frown. 'Scout return!' I said for what might be the last time ever. Scout's dead body turned into a flash of red light and returned to its pokeball.

I turned to face the fight. 'Everyone else out! Not Karp, Skrelp or Nixie!' I ordered.

I had a spinarak, Chansey, Triffid, dewpider, and Nugget. Cheyenne, Hah, Glitz and the two aerodactyl were already out and fighting. Star was still missing. I was above my legal carry capacity by four with Karp, Nixie and Skrelp also in my line up, but I didn't care. I was carrying one extra also, but… Scout...

I put Scout's ball into my empty zip up pocket on my shin. I gave a sad sigh as I looked at Chansey, Triffid, Nugget, dewpider and the spinarak. 'Scout is dead, now we all need to fight for our lives. Team Skull and some other random person are trying to kill us. Lets go and stop them from achieving that!' I said by way of a pep talk. A suck balls in the major league kind of pep talk, but it was the best I could do in these circumstances.

Before they could respond I ran ahead of them, over to Hank and the rest. Some of the Team Skull members had managed to get out of the Jungle. They were firing bullets at the aerodactyl. I still couldn't see Star. I was glad that the aerodactyl were pretty much bullet proof.

Suddenly Hank and the rest of our team were fleeing back towards us. Between them and our enemy stood Kyuubi. His tails were fanned and flames were spontaneously combusting around the entire group of team skull and the fake cop. The flames grew with Kyuubi's will before that whole area was engulfed in fire.

The heat from the flames at this distance was amazing. So was the roaring sound that the fire made. From inside the flames were screams of agony while the people and Pokemon were cooked alive. Kyuubi's fire kept burning as he turned around calmly and started to walk back towards me.

My eyes were fixated on Kyuubi. His red eyes were glowing with fury and cruel satisfaction. I had no doubts now that the rumours of vulpix and ninetales being able to control fire just with will power were one-hundred percent true.

'My pet, Glitz has gone to find little Star. She will catch up with you later. Right now you must flee the scene.' Kyuubi said to me in my mind. Hah ran up to me and lowered herself for me to climb on. 'Ninetales!' Kyuubi yipped at the rest of my pokemon. They all returned themselves to their pokeballs except for Houston and Hah.

Houston stopped next to me. 'What now?' Hank asked me from Houston's back. 'We follow Kyuubi.' I said as I climbed up onto Hah.

The moment I was on Hah, Kyuubi started to run to the Pokemon Centre. Hah and Houston followed at his flanks. Kyuubi didn't take us to the Pokemon Centre. He took us to a building that looked like a small museum.

'This is where they revive the fossils.' Hank said as he looked at the building. 'Let's get this over with so we can go back home. We have a funeral to organise now.' I said in a dull tone. I was starting to feel angry again.

I got down from Hah and then waited for Hank to get off Houston. 'Houston, Hah, return!' I said to both of them. Hank stepped next to me and then took my hand. He gave it a squeeze and he gave me an apologetic look. I squeezed his hand back and frowned. Houston and Hah returned to their poke balls.

Hank gave me a gentle tug and pulled me with him into the building. Kyuubi sat at the entrance to wait for us.

When we entered I looked around.

This floor of the building was empty. There was a waiting area full of random overstuffed couches. The floor was an old looking blue and green carpet. The reception desk looked like it was made from cheap building cladding and held up a fake stone benchtop. There was no receptionist at reception. There wasn't anyone else on this floor except for one person. That one person was waiting at reception. I paused when I recognised who it was.

It was the boy!

'You!' I snapped and stormed over to him. I pulled my hand from Hank's before he could stop me. The boy spun around to face me. He looked surprised by my tone. I grabbed him by the front of his hoodie and pulled him up off the ground with a sneer. He struggled in my hands with an alarmed shout. 'Hey!' He snapped at me angrily.

'Milo!' Hank said to me in an alarmed voice. 'Because of your scamming hustle my venomoth is DEAD!' I shouted at the boy right in his face. 'Wait! Stop! Put me down! I only wanted the Salandit! Honest!' The boy said as he kicked his legs. I gritted my teeth and glared at him.

'Milo put him down!' Hank said to me firmly. I looked at Hank with a frustrated glare and then dropped the boy so that he landed on his rump. He landed with a hard thud and an 'OOF!' Hank leant down and picked him up off the floor before moving the boy to stand behind himself.

'Milo you can't just blame Scout's death on this boy.' Hank said to me in a calm voice. He was trying to reason to me. 'Like hell I can't. He lead that dip shit that killed Scout right to me while I was waiting for you to get back out of the Jungle. He said that Team Skull had stolen his Salandit. When he got his hands on it, he ran away laughing, calling the shit stain a sucker!' I said to Hank as my whole body tensed in rage.

'I was told that you were really strong and that you could take him!' The boy said from behind Hank. 'Hank and his rapidash are really strong! They are champions! I'm not! I'm so new to owning my own Pokemon that most of mine are babies!' I said to the boy in a deadly quiet voice.

'But that victreebel…' The boy started but I cut him off. 'I have hardly owned him a week!' I snapped at him. The boy shivered and hid behind Hank. 'That guy… who ever he was, sent an arcanine to find you… where is it?' I asked the boy with a glare while he tried to shy behind Hank.

'I don't know. It must not have found me yet.' The boy said as he peeked at me from behind Hank. 'Next time get your facts straight and question your resources… I'm an Archeologist, NOT a trainer!' I glared at him. The boy stayed hidden behind Hank.

Hank cleared his throat so that I could look at him. 'We have fossils to revive?' He asked me. He must have really wanted to change the topic before I ended up killing the boy in a new fit of rage. 'There is no receptionist here!' I snapped at Hank. 'Milo I get that you are pissy at this boy and the world that Scout is dead, but it's not my fault. Don't take it out on me!' Hank snapped back at me.

I gritted my teeth and took my bag off. Hank was right. It wasn't his fault. I dug in my bag and looked for the fossils. I took them out and put them on the reception desk. Then I took out the remaining four pokeballs that I had. I didn't have any more pokeballs after that. I frowned. I didn't have enough balls!

Hank saw this and took his own bag off. Hank dug around and took out two more pokeballs, he sat them next to the fossils.

Then a receptionist came down the stairs. A middle aged man, carrying a tray with a pokeball on it. He smiled at the boy. 'Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of an anorith!' He announced. He placed the tray on the reception desk for the boy to take the pokeball sitting on it.

The boy took the ball with a grin. 'Thanks Mister!' He said happily before turning to quickly walk out of the building. 'Stop there!' I said to him. He paused mid stride to look at me with a dark smirk. His eyes gave a suspicious flash before he ran to the exit.

The little rat was a psychic!

He stopped when he got to the door. Kyuubi was looking at him with fangs bared on the other side, stopping him from leaving. 'The arcanine is here!' Kyuubi echoed to me in my mind. 'Hank… there is trouble outside. That dick's arcanine is here…' I said quietly to Hank, so the receptionist couldn't hear.

I turned to the receptionist and pulled out the receipt from the shopping trip the day before. I forced myself to smile. 'Hello, I purchased four fossils from the HeaHea Mega Mart yesterday and paid the extra fee for them to be revived here. I also have two others that I would like to pay to have revived.' I said to the receptionist.

The receptionist picked up the receipt and read through it before smiling back at me. 'Yes I can do that now. It typically takes about ten minutes per fossil for me to revive them. If you would like to wait here or come back in an hour I can have them all done for you if you pay the fee for the extra two.' He said with a strained smile. I had a funny feeling he had been watching the security cameras before coming down with the boy's revived fossil.

I held up my PokeGear. 'I can wire you the money directly, what are your numbers?' I asked him as I saw Hank go over to the front glass door to the building and look outside. The receptionist told me his account details and I sent him the money directly. He smiled and loaded up his tray with the six poke balls and the fossils. He quickly hurried back up the stairs to the next floor and out of sight.

I turned to look at Hank and the boy. The boy was hiding behind a couch in the waiting section of the room. Hank was standing at the door looking outside. 'Hank...' I called to him as I walked up to the door. Hank turned to face me with a strained expression.

'We need to heal our pokemon. All of them. We need to get to the Pokemon Centre. The Aracnine isn't looking for us so we shouldn't be targeted.' I said to Hank. Hank frowned. 'No but it knows that he is hiding in here.' Hank answered me quietly.

I looked over to where the arcanine was. It was sitting opposite the building and looking at us through the glass exit of this small museum, fossil reviving place. 'So we heal and come back to kick its ass…' I said quietly. 'He can hear you…' Kyuubi echoed into my mind.

I gave a heavy sigh and shook my head. 'Or we just wait here for an hour and come up with a plan?' I said to Hank. Hank frowned and looked across the street at the arcanine. 'No… we can take it. Even with injured Pokemon, we have Kyuubi. Kyuubi could beat them in his sleep.' Hank said as he looked at Kyuubi, sitting outside next to the exit.

Kyuubi looked up at Hank with a sly grin and his tails wagging. 'Are you sure? We can't exactly heal Kyuubi like we heal the other Pokemon if he gets hurt.' I said to Hank a little worried. 'Kyuubi just took out the whole group of Team Skull and who ever that other guy was ALONE!' Hank said to me with a quirked brow. I looked at Kyuubi with a furrowed brow. 'I'm going to owe you for this one aren't I?' I asked Kyuubi in my mind.

'You might owe me a little extra something my pet, but nothing that you can't afford. I can get rid of the arcanine for you so you can take care of everyone else.' Kyuubi echoed smoothly to me in my mind. His tone was very coy. 'What about you do it for free and we get the Pokemon Centre to take extra special care in restoring your daughters to full capacity?' I asked him in my mind. 'You were going to do that anyway, but I will do this one favor for free. Just for you, because I like you and I know that my girls are in your capable hands.' Kyuubi echoed to me in my mind.

Kyuubi stood up and faced the arcanine. He fanned out his tails and stalked over to the arcanine. I took Hank's hand. 'Come on. We have Pokemon to heal.' I said to him as I pushed the door open.

Hank looked at Kyuubi with a frown before stepping forward and taking the lead. Hank and I ran to the Pokemon Centre. The Arcanine moved to bound after us but Kyuubi cut them off with a warning growl. The arcanine growled at Kyuubi behind us while we ran.

We got to the Pokemon Centre. Thankfully it was a quiet day. There was no one else here. The nurse was stationed at the front desk with a bored expression. She had an Audino cleaning the floor with a mop and a Chansey dusting the reception desk.

She perked up when Hank and I burst in through the front doors of the Pokemon Centre. 'We have a lot of Pokemon that we need healed right away! If you could start with the aerodactyl that would be great. My wife has a chansey if you need the extra hands.' Hank said as we ran up to the reception desk.

Hank and I let go of each other's hands and started to unbuckle out ball belts. 'I need to see your ID first before I do anything for you.' The nurse said in a blunt tone. My eye twitched in annoyance. I dropped my two ball belts on the reception desk before taking out my PokeGear.

Hank beat me to handing over the PokeGear. The Nurse took his PokeGear and opened it up. She scanned a code on his screen and nodded before holding her hand out for my PokeGear. I handed it to her and she did the same thing.

'Doctor Williams you are aware that you are above your legal carry capacity aren't you?' She asked me. 'Yes I am aware. I caught a few extra Pokemon on the way here and I didn't exactly have the chance to magically put them into the PC system while I was out in the wilderness. I apologize for my ignorance and lack of counting skills.' I said to her in a blunt, cold and sarcastic tone. I only just noticed that my electronic ID had finally updated to show that I was actually married now. I wasn't Dr Smith any more.

The nurse rolled her eyes at me. That eye roll tipped my rage over the edge. I reached down to my shin pocket and unzipped it. I took out Scouts ball and slammed it onto the reception desk. 'If you can help my venomoth then I will take it back. You are supposed to be in customer service. Serve this customer with a smile you bitter bitch.' I snapped at her.

The nurse raised her eyebrows at me and then pushed my ball belts back towards me. 'I have the right to refuse to heal any injured pokemon.' she said to me with a glare. 'Like shit you do! I know that to become a nurse, you had to take an oath to heal ALL injured Pokemon, NO! MATTER! WHAT! Now HEAL MY POKEMON!' I shouted at her as I pushed the ball belts and extra balls back at her across the desk.

Tears stung my eyes while I yelled. Without my permission they spilled from my eyes and I started to cry. My knees went weak and I slipped down into a crouch on the floor behind the reception desk.

'What is her problem?' The nurse asked Hank.

I hiccuped while I cried and looked up at Hank. He sneered as he leant forward over the desk to speak to the nurse. 'Not even ten minutes ago she watched her beloved venomoth get shot to death by a psycho with a gun who felt like they would try and kill us for fun.' Hank said in a deathly quiet voice.

I didn't hear anything else for a while. My ears were ringing while I cried on the floor. I sniffed and sobbed into my hands while the fresh memory of Scout's death played in my mind again.

I don't know how long I was crouched on the floor, but I was lifted up and brought over to a waiting couch. Hank sat down and sat me on his lap. He cuddled me close and rubbed my back while I cried. I cuddled into him, holding onto his shirt.

I was tapped on the shoulder. I looked to see who it was. The audino had a tray with a box of tissues for me and a cup with steam rising out of the top of it. Hank grabbed the box of tissues. 'Take the drink Milo, get something in your system.' Hank encouraged me quietly.

I sniffed and took the hot drink from the tray. 'Th-thank you' I said before hiccupping. I held onto the warm drink while Hank did his best to dry my tears. He put a tissue to my nose. 'Blow.' He said to me quietly. I took a deep breath and emptied the contents on my nose into the tissue, instantly making it soggy and gross.

The audino rushed away from me as the chansey with the nurses hat called her.

A small hand rested on my knee. I looked next to me to see that my chansey was out of her ball. She looked at me with sad eyes. She didn't look like she was skeptical of my emotions towards my team any more. I was very clearly an emotional wreck from Scout's death.

Scout's death…

The water works started up again. Hank did his best to keep up with the flow of tears. In the end he gave up and just focused on holding me close while I drenched his clothes with my eye fluids. My chansey just stood next to me with her hand on my knee while she watched me.

'You do care…' A voice said to me in a whisper. 'O-of course I care! I love my t-team!' I said quietly between sobs. 'What?' Hank asked me a little confused. 'I sniffed and looked at Hank confused. 'Didn't you j-j-just s-say something?' I asked as I looked at Hank. 'I didn't say anything, are you ok?' Hank asked as he put the back of his hand against my brow.

'He didn't say anything. I did. Yvette. The Chansey.' The voice said quietly again. She must have figured out that if she was thinking loud enough that I could hear her. I looked at the chansey a little confused. 'Yvette?' I asked quietly. Accidentally ignoring Hank. Chansey gave a nod. 'Chansey!' She said in a positive tone.

'Oh! I understand now. Your abilities are getting stronger. My dad used to do that as well.' Hank muttered quietly before he kissed my cheek. 'It's nice to meet you Yvette.' Hank said to the chansey in a quiet voice. Yvette looked at Hank and gave a slight nod before she looked back to me. Yvette's stumpy legs gave out from under her and she sat on the carpet.

Yvette was hardly any shorter now that she was sitting. Her legs were so short. Maybe two inches in height, including feet and ankles. I wasn't even sure they could be called legs, they were more like stumps with feet.

We sat in silence and waited for our Pokemon to be healed and brought back to us by the nurse. We sat and waited for an hour.

The nurse returned our pokemon in silence. She looked lost and in a shocked daze. The nurse must have seen Scout's condition while she was healing everyone.

Hank and I left the Pokemon Centre. I was in a clouded daze. My head pounding after my crying session.

It wasn't all out of me yet.

I still had plenty more tears.

They would come later.


	36. Chapter 36

Author Notes.

Champion Red and Dragon Master Lance make an appearance in this chapter.

I do apologise in advance that my publishing of chapters will slow down over December and January. I will try my best to at least publish something once a week but I can't promise anything. By February I should be able to pick the speed up again on the writing front. Everyone who has read this far, thank you! I'm glad that something of mine has been able to entertain someone else and give them some kind of enjoyment!

Stay safe over New Years so you can all keep living another year. Those lucky ones who get a break, enjoy it.

Resources:

Red's Full name:

wiki/Red_(Pocket_Monsters)

Red's original character design:

wiki/Red_(game)

Lance's official character Biography. Proof of Criminal past and true intentions.

wiki/Lance

Origins of the Lake of Rage red Gyarados.

wiki/Red_Gyarados

Black Lightning Chapter 36

Hank and I returned to the small museum where the fossils were revived.

I don't remember the arcanine being outside or Kyuubi. I forgot to look and see what happened with them both while Hank and I walked back to the mini museum from the Pokemon Centre.

The receptionist was there waiting for us with a tray of six balls. His fake smile faded when he saw me. His brow furrowed. If his face was anything to go by, my big session of crying made me look like a mess. I felt like a mess.

Hank lead me to sit down at one of the waiting couches. 'Wait here.' Hank said to me quietly as I sat down on an overstuffed couch. Hank went and collected my revived fossils for me.

I was surprised to see that the boy was still there. I thought he would have hightailed it out of here the first chance that he could get. He was talking to someone on his PokeGear with his headphones on.

I hadn't really looked at the boy closely. He had a thick mop of black hair and violet eyes. He looked like a little hoodlum with his dark blue hoodie, black headphones and baggy grey tracksuit pants. His skin was slightly tanned. He had a scar on his chin and another scar on his brow that cut into one of his eyebrows, making a gap in the middle of them. Sitting next to him was a cyndaquil. The cyndaquil was laying on its back and enjoying a belly scratch from the boy.

He had his feet up on the coffee table while he spoke to someone. 'It was a total success… pfft N! Oh! P! Nope! That didn't happen. Some other variables happened that we didn't count for.' The boy said quietly. He looked smug while he spoke to whoever he was speaking to.

I looked away from him then and out the glass doors of the front entry. Kyuubi was majestically sitting at the entrance, looking as stunning as ever. He must have dealt with the arcanine while I was having my mental break down in the Pokemon Centre. I felt a little guilty for not noticing him there earlier.

'Hey Lady, is your name Milo?' The boy's voice suddenly cut into the silence. 'It's Doctor Williams to you kid.' Hank's voice retorted as he came back to me. I looked over to the boy feeling completely, emotionally drained. The boy had one side of his headphones off his ears as he looked at me expectantly.

'Why does it matter to you?' I asked the boy in a blunt tone. His eyes went wide and he got up. He came over to me and took his headphones off. The boy handed me his headphones and held up the screen of his PokeGear to me. I looked at the screen and saw Will on the other side of the call. Was this boy one of Will's agents?

I quickly took the headphones and put them on. 'Milo! You look less than your normal beautiful self. What happened?' Will asked in my ears through the headphones. I could feel the tears start to prickle in my eyes again. I bit my lower lip. 'No! No! Don't cry! You will make me cry and then we will get nowhere! I am sending Alph a message now to pick you up and bring you right here my dear! Stay right where you are!' Will said to me. I could only sniff and nod. 'Good girl, now put Terence back on for me.' Will encouraged me, seemingly satisfied that I was being obedient.

I pulled the headphones off and held them out to the boy. He took the headphones and put them on his head. I looked up to Hank. 'Will summoned me to go and see him.' I said to Hank quietly. Hank gritted his jaw and nodded. 'Will is going to have to report everything that happened to the Council of Regions. We might be prosecuted, me for a second time.' Hank said before giving a heavy sigh.

'I'm here for Milo.' Came Alph's echoed and projected voice from his head as he appeared before us. 'Not me as well?' Hank asked. 'Will is aware that you have a house to buy before the time runs out to land the full sale. I will come back for you, Kyuubi and Terence after I bring Milo to Will.' Alph responded to Hank.

Hank nodded and took a step back before lowering his head. 'Milo please collect your belongings into your bag ready for travel.' Alph said to me. I nodded and looked at Hank.

Hank held out the six pokeballs for me to take. I took out my PokeGear and scanned them one by one to register them to my name. As I registered them I put them into my bag for safe keeping.

The first scan revealed a male Amaura. Decent stats, smaller than average.

The rest of the revived fossils were as follows…

Male Shieldon.

Female Tyrunt.

Female Lileep.

Female Kabuto.

Male Omanyte.

I must admit, I did feel a little joy in seeing the newest additions to my team on my PokeGear screen. Especially now that I had them all registered. Hank held onto the wedding present that Clyde had given us. We were going to keep that device a secret for now.

I put my bag on my back and hugged Hank tightly. 'I love you…' I whispered to him. I don't know what I would have done without him as a support. I didn't know what I would have done if he didn't get out of that Jungle when he did. 'Love you more.' Hank whispered back. He pushed me away a little and kissed me softly, his lips covering mine for a sweet moment. I was surprised that I actually managed to kiss him back. I must have really been mentally shaken up to manage that without having a mini panic attack; like every other time that Hank had kissed me.

Hank let me go and then looked at Alph. I looked at Alph with a frown and a nod. I was ready to go now.

In a blink Alph and I were no longer in the mini revival museum for fossils. We were standing in Will's official league battle room.

Alph teleported away again.

The second Alph was gone Will ran and stood in front of me. Will grabbed my shoulders and looked into my eyes. His eyes gave a bright glow as he looked into my eyes. 'Milo what happened?' He asked me without his mouth moving.

Oh. He was in my head. Right… I forgot that could happen. I opened my mouth to answer but Will put a finger on my lips. 'Use your mind to show me. Practice your new abilities.' Will instructed me in my mind.

I could feel my eyes start to water up as I started from when we were first ambushed on route Eight. I remembered the battle that followed the ambush. My mind began to wander as I tried to remember things around Scout's death.

'Focus Milo, show me what happened.' Will encouraged me softly in my mind. His purple eyes made me focus but on something else entirely. His eyes gave a bright flash that triggered another memory by accident.

My mind jumped to the memory of my night with Qadan on his secret rescue mission. I remembered seeing Will run past me and stopping to look back. I remembered the bright purple glow of his eyes in the night as he rushed the others away from the gun fire. He had looked back at me twice in his haste to escape.

Will very suddenly pulled out of my head as he looked at me shocked. 'That was you?' He asked out loud. 'I guess it was me.' I said sheepishly. Will cupped my face in his hands and looked at me with a smile. 'Do you know what you did?' He asked me. 'Umm… no?' I said to him a little uncertain of what he might be getting at.

'You won us the war! Milo you are a mythical war hero!' Will said in delirious glee. I could only look down sadly. I didn't feel like a war hero, all I had done was encourage Major Williams' squad (what was left of it) to not give up and hold on just a while longer. Surely that didn't win the war. Did it?

'Pretty Milo why are you so sad? You didn't show me!' Will said with a pout. I gritted my teeth and reached into my pocket. I pulled out Scout's ball from my pocket and held it up for Will.

Will frowned as he took the ball. Will silently held the safari ball in his hand and stared at it for a while. 'I sense no life in there.' He said as he held the safari ball in his hand. He looked at me worried.

The tears started to spill from my eyes as I let the memory of Scout's death play in my mind again. I let out a huff before it turned into a sob. Will looked at me shocked while he held Scout's ball. I guess even a seasoned war veteran and ex-Team Rocket criminal wasn't immune to the horrors of death in battle.

'Come out!' Will commanded the safari ball to release its contents. The ball let out a zap of red light. Scout's dead body materialised in the air before it fell to the floor with a thud. I looked away and clenched my jaw. I guess the ball released Scout into the air because it was programed to his DNA. Scout was a flying bug, even if he was officially a bug and poison type. The ball seemed to be programed to release him at a height that was suitable for him to be in flight when he came out. He wouldn't fly again though. Scout couldn't do anything now.

Scout is a dead Venomoth.

'Return!' Will said. Scout's body returned to the safari ball. Will pressed the safari ball into my hand. 'Milo would you like me to request Agatha's help to bring him back as a gastly?' Will asked me quietly.

Will wasn't being his usual flamboyant self right now. He was genuinely worried about me and sad for me. Will must have lost a Pokemon or two in the last war that happened. I could feel a strong sorrow from Will, he was empathizing with me.

'I don't know. The words I heard before Scout… before he was shot. I heard a voice say that they had no regrets. I don't know if he wanted to be brought back.' I admitted quietly.

'Well if you do nothing and he comes back to haunt you for not bringing him back you will have a gastly if you want one or not. If you do try to bring him back, and he comes back successfully not wanting to be around then he will still haunt you with a grudge. The only way to know if he truly wants to stay at rest is to wait and see his answer. But that isn't what I was asking. I was asking if YOU want him back.' Will said to me with a grim tone and a tense body.

I wiped my wrist on my eyes to dry them the best that I could before I looked at Will again. 'Of course I want him back… but not if he doesn't want to be back…' I said as my final answer. Will's brow furrowed. 'You are going to wait for him to decide for himself?' Will asked me. I nodded.

Then I remembered something else. 'Glitz! She is still looking for star!' I said to Will with wide eyes. 'Glitz is looking for Star?' Will asked me with a curious little smirk. He looked amused by my sudden topic change.

'My not so slow slowpoke is looking for my newly caught and missing fletchling. Star went missing in the Team Skull attack.' I explained to Will. 'Not so slow slowpoke?' Will asked me a little more amused now.

I gave a sniff and nodded. 'Glitz got hit by a flamethrower from a houndoom. She has been wide awake and alert since. I taught her teleport shortly after she got licked by the hellfire.' I explained to Will. Will only snickered. 'Houndoom fire is a great way to speed up a slowpoke. It's not fair that they are in pain for the rest of their lives like that; but it is an effective way to get a productive pokemon out of a slowpoke, without having to get a shellder to bite them in a way that they will evolve from it.' Will said with an approving nod to the accident.

'Other than the unfortunate encounter with Team Skull how was your honeymoon otherwise?' Will asked me. I had a feeling he was doing some kind of secret psychological assessment of me to see if I was still any good to ask for favours.

'Looks like I got sprung.' Will said with a chuckle to my train of thought. 'It does remind me of something though. Since when are you my sponsor?' I asked Will with a frown.

'Oh that! I did that with the intention of asking forgiveness rather than asking permission. See I want you to be one of my secret agents so to say. Even if you decline the job offer I still want to sponsor you. I heard a whisper from a certain lover of mine that you want to bring down the Pewter Museum from the inside out because they kidnapped you, and stole your discovery?' Will asked me.

My eye twitched angrily as I looked at him. 'I see. I don't have solid proof yet, but one of my other agents has been hearing whispers that some of your Stator discovery is going to be sold in a secret and private auction to the highest bidders as super soldiers. I want to sponsor you to feed Pewter Museum incorrect information about the ruins of Alph as a hopeful distraction while I plan a way to stop the auction. If you could keep the truth to yourself about the ruins, that would be wise. The Unown are known by the psychics to be rather unforgiving towards archeologists trying to uncover their secrets. The last time our stupidest genius activated the ruins they pissed off Arceus and almost got the whole planet killed!' Will said to me with a serious face.

'There is more isn't there?' I asked Will. Will gave a heavy sigh and a nod. 'What do you know about Team Rocket from your world?' Will asked me. 'Probably more than your average secret agent. I know who the leader is, why they disbanded the first time. Who defeated them first and then defeated them again. I also know they have regrouped to be even stronger under the same old leader as Team Rainbow Rocket. I also know the details of their secret missions and clone experiments. I know the secrets behind ditto and how that even became a thing. I also have a rough idea of where the DNA for those experiments was sourced.' I admitted to Will.

I didn't have the mental capacity to try and hide this from Will. Will seemed to genuinely want to stop the up and coming war. Why he wanted to stop it I wasn't yet sure. Will enjoyed chaos and distraction to keep him busy, but…

My mind was suddenly distracted as Will's mind flashed a memory of the boy in my mind, followed by many other faces of other children. Terence was it? What did the boy have anything to do with Will wanting to stop the war?

Will gave an embarrassed chuckle as he scratched the back of his neck. 'Well you see… I am such a wild party enthusiast that it has been my terrible misfortune to have some random party women come to me and dump a baby in a bundle of blankets in my arms with the words "this belongs to you, no take backs" before leaving me, never to be seen again. Funnily enough though I don't have as many illegitimate children as big shot Lance… but I still have children. Secret children! You can't tell anyone. The Council of Regions don't know. If they did, the league would be screwed and we would be back under the old global laws. We don't want that. Pewter Museum and the other major Corporate companies were running the world then, with the council of Regions only playing the part as a shadow theatre puppet of secret people wanting peace between the regions.' Will said to me with a serious frown.

'My lips are sealed and I think I can agree to your terms and work with you on a great many things to keep even more shit from hitting the fan. I assume that because Hank isn't here he isn't to know know about this?' I asked Will with a frown.

Will furrowed his brow. 'Don't tell him yet, not until I do some more background checks on him. While he was in the banishment world there was a rumour that his allegiance to Kanto and Johto were compromised. I need time to look into those rumours. Be especially careful of everyone who works for the Pewter museum. What we talk about here is secret psychic's business.' Will said to me.

'Be careful of even nurse Mel?' I asked Will with a rissen brow. Will thought for a moment before chuckling. 'Her? Actually Milo. She is like you. She was kidnapped by the Pewter Museum. She is from the banishment world too, but they keep her locked up in there with no escape so that she can't accidentally tell anyone. She is my sleeper mole. Her secret lover is my secret agent. He is one of the members from your expedition team actually. He was given a female Stator by Lee to raise as a secret weapon. Rumour has it that none of the expedition team are going to be allowed to keep the Stator that they have been given to raise. The Stator that Lee isn't keeping for himself as breeders, are being raised by the expedition team to be an army of raw, dark, nastiness under the orders of the Chairman. He wants them under their control but as mean as possible so they can be killer machines. My agent is actually failing at getting the Stator to listen to him. She isn't just not listening to him, she is super mean. Super super mean.' Will said to me with a troubled frown.

'Can I meet her? I think I can get her to be one of our agents too with the right amount of leverage. We can turn the disobedience into an acted disobedience for public display while she also works for us to get us the extra intel.' I suggested to Will.

'What do you mean?' Will asked me.

'Hah, Nugget, come out!' I called the Stator and the Zaptor. Both of them came out in a bright flash of red light. They looked at me curiously. I looked at Will before whistling Hah and Nugget's family tune. They returned the whistle happily.

'As you would have seen at the wedding, Hah and Nugget are mother and son. I'm not going to claim that I tamed Hah but we did reach an understanding. She is staying with me to supervise my raising of Nugget. Since that aggressive Stator is from my same spot of discovery, there is a chance that Hah is her mother. Even if she isn't, they are from the same pack. They are pack dwelling predators with a strict hierarchy among their members. I have observed that females are generally dominant over males, with the only exception being that the young male is from the alpha female of the pack. That male offspring is more superior than the females of the other, non alpha pack offspring. Snuggles used to dominate over Nugget and really push him around, but now that Nugget knows that his mother is the alpha female and Snuggle's was from a lower social ranking pack member, he now rules over her with his mother's blessing. Nugget is an alpha male over a common female with the instincts to dominate the male in her life. If that stator of your agent's is not Nugget's sister then we can show her that she is to listen to the alpha's of her pack and do as she is told. If she is Nugget's sister when we are going to have to ask Hah very nicely to bring her daughter into line and work with us rather than against us.' I said to Will with a shrug.

Will mulled over what I had told him before he smiled. 'I think I can arrange a family reunion. But it won't be until right after the war is announced. Are you busy the day after tomorrow morning?' Will asked me. 'No. I'm not. Umm… I need a way to bring Glitz here so she can teleport me here without needing to rely on Alph.' I said with a frown.

Will only smiled and held his arms up in the air. 'My lovely Milo, I can organise that! That is easy-peasy! I have a few Pokemon of my own that can teleport. I'm sure they would be happy to give you a jump here and there.' Will assured me with his flirtatious smile.

His arms and smile dropped when there was a knock on the door. 'Oh darn my terrible luck today! My lovely sweet Xatu was right! Today is going to be long, tedious and full of work!' Will said with a pout.

The door opened and Lance walked in with a smirk. Lance was in his usual garb with his red hair spiked up in its usual style. I already knew not to trust Lance. The guy was sneaky. I doubted that the council of Regions knew about the criminal activity that he got up to in his spare time. Even if they did send him on missions to infiltrate certain organisations to gain information. I just didn't trust him now that I had a closer look at him.

'Am I interrupting something fun?' He asked as he came in and walked over to us. He looked at Nugget and Hah. 'They look much smaller on the TV. Any draconic traits in them?' Lance asked as he walked around Hah and Nugget. He was looking at them as though they were prized thoroughbreds. 'No sorry, it's all electricity and darkness in there. No dragons.' I said with an amused smirk.

Hah hissed at Lance as lightning started to crackle off her downy feathers. Lance's eyes gave a luminous flash as he looked at Hah. 'I suppose they don't.' He mused quietly with a disappointed frown.

Lance ignored Hah's hiss and looked at me instead. He walked over and took my hand before lifting it to kiss my knuckles tenderly. 'May is steal you away from Will to have some quality time with you?' He asked me in a very coy voice. 'I don't know, will you be able to walk me out of the room in about three seconds?' I asked him with a dark smirk.

I saw Will wince as Lance looked at me confused. I smiled sweetly as I rammed my foot up into Lance's crotch. My steel capped toes scoring a bullseyes that dropped Lance to the floor with a groan. 'Oh… no dinner date for you…' Lance groaned from the floor. 'That's fine, I'm a married woman any way.' I said in a cold voice.

Lance curled up on the floor, holding his junk. He glared up at me in pain. 'Flirt with this lady at your own risk dragon master.' I said as I crossed my arms over my chest. Slowly Lance's glare turned into a dark smile. 'I like that. No one has dared to so openly defy me outside of battle.' Lance said with a pained snicker.

'Legally she can't challenge you to battle. She has no gym badges or any official league wins. Hell she isn't even a trainer. Sorry Lance. Bad luck. Too bad, so sad!' Will said in a mocking voice.

'I can battle her unofficially! I want to see what the fire in her eyes is like on the battlefield.' Lance said with an excited smile. He looked like he was forgetting his pain. I narrowed my eyes at him. 'That wouldn't be fair. Most of my Pokemon are babies… or they are as bloodthirsty and crazy as me…' I said with a frown. 'Lance she doesn't just battle using her own pokemon…' Will said with a laugh.

'What is that supposed to mean?' Lance asked. I gave a heavy sigh. 'Triffid come out please!' I called my victreebel. It was easier to show him rather than tell him.

Triffid came out in a flash of red light next to me, on the other side to Nugget and Hah who were watching curiously. I looked up at Triffid at my side. He was still covered in blood and still had a pair of feet hanging out of his mouth while he digested his kill from the ambush.

'Master Lance… I caught this Victreebel in the Kanto Safari Zone… would you like to know how?' I asked as I looked back to Lance. Lance looked at Triffid with a curious expression as he slowly got back up to his feet. 'How?' Lance asked as he looked at me, still slightly bent over.

I lifted the side of my shirt to show him the huge scar down the side of my ribs from Triffids vine whip attacks. 'I battled him myself. I didn't use a Pokemon to do it because that isn't allowed in the Kanto Safari Zone. But there was nothing in the rules saying that I couldn't fight the Pokemon that I intended on catching myself, with my own fists and feet.' I said to Lance calmly.

Lance's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. 'No one is crazy enough to do that! Much less to a man eater!' Lance said shocked. 'No one is also crazy enough to plant their foot in your balls, but I just did to prove a point Dragon Master Lance.' I said in a blunt tone.

Will only snickered. 'Milo have I told you that I love you my dear?' Will asked me as he tried his best to contain his laughter. 'You have but I fear that it's too late. Your brother in arms has snatched me up first.' I said with a giggle as I looked at Will.

I could feel a slight burn across my cheeks. Stupid crush! Will is a flirt! Normally I hate flirts! 'I'm a special flirt, a psychic flirt!' Will echoed in my mind. I only blushed more when he said that in my head. 'A hot psychic flirt…' I grumbled in my mind. I really need to be careful of what I think in front of Will. He was very much too insightful for me to handle sometimes. 'You can handle me, trust me.' Will echoed in my mind again.

The door burst open again, slamming against the wall, and Terence walked in. 'Hey Uncle Lance! Champion Red is out here looking for you. Says you are running late to an appointment.' Terence said with a frown as he walked over to us.

Terence looked at Triffid wearily and then at Hah. He gave a shudder and quickly walked over to put Will between himself and the two blood covered pokemon. I had forgotten that Hah was also covered in Golbat blood. She looked extra menacing with that extra blood splattered on her. I kind of liked it. It suited her primitive nature.

'Lance! Are you trying to curb your duties again? We have an… oh… Hello…' Came a deep male voice from the door.

In walked Red.

Champion Red from the original games.

Red who was the first to catch every Kanto Pokemon. Including Mewtwo, but excluding Mew. (At least that is what the Origins movie showed me.)

Some things from the banishment world seemed to not be true in this world. Like Lance not catching the red gyarados from the Lake of Rage. Janice had it. Or maybe she had one of many of them. The evolution ray used there could have forced more than one magikarp to evolve into red gyarados, but to simplify the story in the banishment world the number of magikarp forced to evolve could have been reduced to just one. It would make sense that for the sake of the games and the manga in the banishment world, the writers would only have one red gyarados.

In reality it wouldn't make sense. Team Rocket would not have stopped at just one. If their scientists were curious enough to keep trying to clone mew to get mewtwo they wouldn't have just force evolved one magikarp into a red gyarados.

It was certainly a conundrum to consider. I would have to look into that another time. Maybe ask Hank since he was there with Janice when she caught Fish.

Maybe there was more than one incident with Team Rocket and the Lake of Rage. Giovanni struck me as the kind of man that would have the life motto of "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." He had tried cloning mew many times before actually succeeding with mewtwo. He never seemed to give up. Maybe he pretended to give up in the face of a stronger opponent so he could come back again even stronger. I wouldn't put it past him to do that. He seemed like a mastermind to me. A man like Giovanni would know when to run away only to come back later much stronger.

Red started to walk towards the rest of the group.

Red had of course aged, he wasn't a boy anymore. He looked like he was in his late thirties, early forties. Stressful work must have aged him more than normal. He was showing signs that he would be quite the silver fox once he hit that age. He was better looking than in the anime series, they couldn't do him justice at all. He looked more like the red from Pokemon Origins than the Red that was the original design for Ash Ketchum. He was wearing a pair of black denim jeans, a very old red and white cap, a skin tight white T-shirt with an unbuttoned red flannelette short sleeved shirt. He was looking right at me with a mix of curiosity and weariness. Red was definitely smart and his presence was strong.

Red walked up to me and held out his hand. 'Champion Isamu Akai, Red for short.' He said in a very blunt and to-the-point tone. I took his hand firmly and shook it. 'Doctor Milo Williams, Milo for short.' I responded in kind. I couldn't read him. His mind was well guarded and his eyes were focused and hard.

'Fable? Clefable!' A Clefable called out as it stumbled into the room. 'Interesting…' I mused quietly. Like in the manga, it seemed that he did have a comical clefairy, clefable now. It obviously evolved. 'My Clefable?' Red asked me with a quirked eyebrow before he looked at Hah and Nugget pointedly.

Of course he would find Nugget and Hah far more fascinating than his goofy clefable. Champion Red was a pokemon collector. He didn't have Stator or Zaptor. They were brand new discoveries.

'A prime example of a Stator and a Zaptor. Doctor Milo was the one who discovered them.' Will said proudly. I could feel myself blush a little as Red looked at me curiously. 'I am an archeologist. My husband is a geologist, we found the bedrock that had their fossils.' I said to Red.

Red smiled a little. 'I saw them on the news. Pewter Museum didn't mention you.' Red pointed out. I felt my jaw clench as I frowned. 'No… I'm not sure if it was for my own protection or because they stole my discovery for themselves. Those two and one other are only three of many that I managed to get out of the clutches of the Museum. If you know a good lawyer I'd like their number.' I said through gritted teeth as I felt the rage boil in me again.

Hah gave a sharp cry and hissed at the mention of the Pewter Museum.

Red looked at me as he folded his arms over his chest. 'I'm not really known for using lawyers.' He said to me calmly. I thought back on what I knew about Red from the banishment world. 'No your not but maybe you can answer a different question of mine.' I said to him as I put my hand one my hips and looked at him. I could feel a smile playing at my lips now.

He tilted his head slightly to the side as he narrowed his eyes at me. I had no doubt some of the information I knew about him was top secret in this world. I would have to ask Red this question because I doubted that Mr Fuji was still alive to answer it.

I heard Will gasp softly behind me as I looked at Red. 'Champion Isamu Akai…' I started out loud and then trailed off. I didn't want Lance to hear the answer to this question, or this question. I focused as hard as I could as I looked into Red's eyes to finish the question. '... Do you still have your Mewtwo?' I asked in his head.

Red's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He glanced at Lance and then at Will with untrusting eyes before they settled on me. He squared his shoulders and clenched his jaw. 'Did Oak tell you about that?' Red asked me in my mind.

If he owned all of the Kanto Pokemon then he would have had some experience with an Alakazam talking to him in his head. If I stayed focused I could keep the connection. I was starting to get better at this.

'No. I'm from a place where a lot of top secret information seems to get leaked and become common knowledge. Outside of where I am from it seems much of that Top Secret information is still very much Top Secret.' I thought back to him. Red relaxed slightly before taking out his PokeGear.

Red held his PokeGear up to me and scanned me. A female voice sounded from his Gear.

"Doctor Milo Williams. Archeologist for the Pewter Museum. Sponsored by Johto Elite Four Will Itsuki. Discoverer of the Stator-Zaptor Pokemon Species. Newly Married to Doctor Hank Williams of Johto Mahogany Town, Kanto-Johto Champion Trainer, Pewter Museum Geologist. Birth Place CLASSIFIED! Citizenship CLASSIFIED! Can read unown Hieroglyphs. Registered owner of twenty-five Pokemon. One Pokemon DECEASED. No champion status. No record of trainer status!"

Red looked at me curiously. 'It didn't say anything about you being a psychic.' He projected his thoughts to me pointedly as Lance interrupted. 'It's not common knowledge but it already said more than enough, maybe too much.' I thought back to Red as Lance spoke up.

'You can read unknown hieroglyphs? NO ONE can read unown hieroglyphs! I've checked everywhere looking for someone who could read them.' Lance said with a greedy look in his eyes. 'She really can read them Lance. Better than you can read her!' Will said with a snicker.

Lance gave Will a glare before looking back to me. 'Prove it!' He said to me with a frown. 'No!' I retorted and crossed my arms over my chest. 'Prove it…' Lance repeated to me in a threatening tone.

I clenched my jaw as I look him in the eyes. 'No. Not even if you try and force proof from me by using your pokemon.' I retorted again. Lance stepped forward as he glared at me. A bolt of lightning struck between us. 'Tor!' Nugget snapped before running to stand between me and Lance.

'Lance you are a good looking guy and you gave a gift with dragon types but my answer is still no. You can't intimidate me, I'm too crazy to be scared of you but I'm also not stupid enough to encourage the wrath of Archeus against me or my Pokemon by proving anything to you that I don't need to.' I said to Lance bluntly.

'If you keep pushing her she is going to snap Lance. I've seen Milo snap. Even you, don't stand a chance.' Will warned Lance in a quiet and serious tone. Lance looked at Will with a glare.

A sound from Red's PokeGear made all of us snap to attention. Red watched his PokeGear with an amused smirk. 'This is interesting…' Red mused quietly. 'Did you get into Milo's secret files?' Will asked Red. Red gave a single nod while he watched his PokeGear before he glanced at me from the screen.

'I've seen a lot but nothing ever like this.' He mused as he looked at me. 'What are you watching?' Lance asked Red through gritted teeth. 'Doctor Milo's battle against the squadron of Kalos soldiers that were defeated in the Kanto Safari Zone the other day. According to the security camera recordings from their campsite, Milo defeated all of them… pretty much on her own. Even though there was one very well seasoned Champion there.' Red said while still watching the Gear.

'Bel!' Triffid snapped, still outside of his ball. I grinned a little as I looked up at Triffid. He still had a pair of feet poking out from the top of his mouth. 'I couldn't have done it without you Triffid. You played an important role and saved my life after everything. I owe you more treats than I could ever buy!' I said to Triffid with a giggle. 'Victree!' Triffid responded happily. He seemed to forgive me for supposedly forgetting that he had helped me with that fight.

'How long does it go for? Is that the director's cut or something?' Lance asked Red while he continued to watch the fight. 'I'm going to watch it from every angle. The whole fight apparently is about ten minutes long. If Milo wasn't already injured it would have been a much faster battle. It is still fascinating though.' Red responded quietly.

'Which part?' Will asked Red. Red hummed quietly while he watched. I notice Hah sneak up behind Red to watch over his shoulder. 'I found the fact that the victreebel that the Kalos soldier's caught actually fled the moment it saw Milo only to get called down by this victreebel here, only to get beaten up by her.' Red said with the barest hint of a smirk playing at his lips. He looked at Will.

'I can see now why you want to sponsor her.' Red said in an amused tone. 'Hey why can't I get access to those files?' Lance chimed up suddenly. He had his own PokeGear and he was tapping on it. 'It's above your Pay grade.' Red responded calmly. 'How is it above my pay grade? I'm the leader of the Indigo Elite Four! I'm the strongest one!' Lance said to Red, angry again. Typical redhead.

'You might be the leader and a seasoned Champion but I outrank you Dragon Master. You might be in charge of the G-Men Unit but I'm the direct representative for Kanto on the board of the Council of Regions. This very interesting video of this mysterious young woman, from some Classified location, will only be viewed by you if her direct Sponsor chooses to show you or if you manage to work your way through the ranks to take my seat or the seat of the Johto Rep. Until then you are denied any further access to her personal files above what the general public can access.' Red said in a blunt tone to Lance.

Lance sucked in a sharp breath and slowly put his PokeGear away. Lance looked at me and then smirked. 'You have dragon pokemon on you. I can make use of that since they aren't loyal to you…' Lance basically shouted in his mind. I managed to hear his thoughts. His eyes gave a sheen. Lance wasn't psychic but if I remember correctly, he had that special forest power. The ability to basically mind control dragons. He must have used a part of that to make sure I heard his thoughts.

Again he was threatening me. That isn't how I do nice things for people! Lance really needed to learn that wasn't how to get favours from me. Actually many people needed to learn that. Come to think of it, I threaten people a lot too. Maybe we were all just too desperate to think straight. I know right now I am emotionally compromised. Pushing me now will only make me shove back.

If I could muster up the energy to do that right now.

I gave a sigh and looked down at Nugget. Nugget looked at me and then at Lance with a hiss. 'Don't shock him. He doesn't have enough brain cells to learn any lessons from it about not screwing with us.' I said to Nugget in a disappointed tone.

I realise that Lance is a very powerful person with a very convenient ability to brainwash all dragon types and dragon like Pokemon to do his bidding, but I was too angry to care.

I used to have a mini crush on Lance from the games, I don't know why. But real Lance, not so much. I knew too much about him from the manga and bits from the anime to know that I could probably trust a gypsy to give me a dollar over trusting Lance to not use me for his own personal gain and agenda.

Will burst out laughing at my comment about Lance's lack of brain cells.

'You bitch!' Lance snapped at me. 'I didn't know you liked having your dick kicked. Maybe this time I can kick it hard enough to invert it into a cunt for you.' I sneered at Lance. I stepped around Nugget to stalk over to Lance.

Lance stood his ground and reached for a ball on his belt.

'Dragon Master Lance. You are late to our meeting. You can't afford to be late to another one of our meetings, you don't have enough demerit points left.' Red cut in before I could reach Lance. 'Shit!' Lance said before running out of the room. He ran away before I could get to him.

I looked back at Red with a frown. Red gave a single dry chuckle. 'Now Lance owes me a life debt that he will never repay. I owe you a favour now Doctor Williams. I hope you use it wisely. Will, Agent Terence.' Red said as parting words before he too turned and walked out of the room.

I fell silent and looked down at the floor while I considered what had just happened. 'Damn it! He never answered my question… which probably means that it was a yes. But I don't know which one he has…' I muttered to myself. 'Which one of what that who has?' Terence asked me from where he stood behind Will.

I looked over to Will and Terence with a sheepish grin. 'Nothing. It's something for me to figure out in my spare time. You are planning to spoil a rumoured auction by the Pewter Museum?' I asked Will as a topic change.

'I need to confirm the details first. I also need to re-assign Terence to a more hidden role for a while. Especially after the mess that was left behind in Alola. Someone is bound to find that mess and report it as a crime scene sooner rather than later. Unless I can convince the Council of Regions that it was a mission to stop the war that went wrong, you, Terence and Hank will become wanted persons in the next few hours.' Will said before a worried look crossed his face.

'You better go then.' I said to him. 'Yes! Yes! Terrance is going with you. He is going to masquerade as a foster child for a while.' Will said as he started to walk to the door. 'He isn't a ward of the state then?' I asked Will.

Will paused and looked at me over his shoulder. 'A ward of the state?' Will asked me. He didn't seem familiar with that term. 'A legal orphan?' I said to Will. 'Oh! Yes he is a legal orphan of Johto. My Alias is his foster parent, but that might not be possible again for a while, so now he is your foster child. I will process the paperwork as soon as I am done convincing the Council to not punish you! You two get to know each other in the meantime. I will be back. I'm not done with either of you!' Will said before he rushed away.

There I was, alone with a boy who was looking at Triffid with a very worried expression. I sighed and looked at Triffid. 'Are you going to eat the boy?' I asked Triffid. Triffid gave me a strange look and then looked at Terence like a spoiled child looked at food on their plate that they don't enjoy eating.

I laughed and then looked at Terence. 'He won't eat you. You don't look yummy enough.' I said while I laughed. 'That isn't funny Ma!' Terence said in a mocking voice. He glared at me completely unamused.

I looked at him surprised. 'What now?' I asked him. 'I'm going to be your foster son now Ma. What's the matter you want me to call you something else? How about granny?' He asked me sarcastically. He was going to be a hand full.

'I… No. You just took me by surprise. I can't have children so I never thought I would ever hear anyone call me that.' I responded to Terence. Terence looked at me surprised before he regained his composure. 'I'm a professional Secret Agent. If I'm going to pretend to be your son then you better get used to me calling you Ma. You might also want to come up with a backstory as to why you suddenly decided to foster me so you have an explanation for your new husband.' Terence pointed out with a frown as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I sighed and shook my head. 'The story will be easy. I was emotionally compromised after the death of my pokemon. I found out you were a legal orphan like me and I wanted to give you a loving home better than I ever had because all of my foster parents were abusive and terrible to me. Hank will believe that. We will have a full blown domestice over it but he wont tell me to get rid of you. He will accept it but he will be angry because I didn't talk to him about it.' I said to Terence calmly.

Terence looked at me a little surprised. 'You mean you knew who your parents were but couldn't live with them because they were high profile and too famous for the authorities to allow them children?' Terence asked me. 'That is very specific, but no. The Authorities took me away from my parents because they were drug dealers who very often tested their supplies. My Mother and Father were in jail for my whole life.' I admitted to Terence.

Terence looked at me dumbfounded before he frowned sadly. 'I'm sorry…' He said quietly. I only shrugged. 'Not your fault.' I said quietly to him.

I knelt down as Nugget walked over to me. I smiled softly and stroked the crest on top of Nugget's head lovingly, making him chirp happily.

'So where are we going to live?' Terence asked me while I patted my Stator. 'The route between the Lake of Rage and Mahogany town or somewhere near the Ruins of Alph.' I answered. 'You don't know?' He asked me with a frown. 'Not entirely. Hank's mother lives near the Lake we might have to stay there for a night or two. Hank is trying to buy a house near the ruins of Alph right now though. If he can get the house and immediate settlement then we will be moving into there tonight and not spending another night at his mother's.' I answered with a shrug. 'Oh…' Terence responded.

I frowned a little. 'We will need to go past the house near the Lake anyway today to pack the rest of our stuff and pick up our other pokemon. I wonder if Odd's egg has hatched yet.' I mused quietly, more to myself than to Terence.

Terence gave a gasp and came over to me. He knelt down opposite me while I stroked Nugget's head crest. Terence looked at me like a kid at a birthday party, looking at the cake. 'You have a Pokemon with an egg? That is so cool! What will it be?' He asked me excitedly. I couldn't help but laugh a little at his obvious excitement.

'A Girafarig!' I responded with a smile.

Maybe having this boy around wouldn't be a bad thing. If he really was Will's son, then Will was trusting me to look after him. Even if it was temporary. I felt ok with it right now.

What could possibly go wrong?


End file.
